Love Jihad also known as Romeo Jihad, is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory which states that Muslim men target non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam by faking love. Well, this has surely been a hot topic for discussion in the public domain and we often see objections being raised to concepts like these whether in Bollywood films or TV shows. Some recent examples of it are Bigg Boss 14 and the film Laxmii.
In case you don’t know, recently on Bigg Boss 14, when Eijaz Khan kissed Pavitra Punia, the Karni Sena raised objections to it stating that the show is promoting love jihad. They even issued a letter to Colors to censor or ban the show, and if not done they have threatened to get on the streets to protest. A similar issue also happened with Akshay Kumar’s film Laxmii, the film was accused of promoting Love Jihad where Akshay Kumar was shown to play a Muslim character of Asif who is married to a Hindu girl named Priya (played by Kiara Advani).
While these portrayals have been pulled up for their creative liberty, in real life Bollywood celebs have totally redefined the concept of love jihad which is completely opposite of the conspiracy theory. Yes, Hindu men have married Muslim women, and in this article, we bring to you, 10 such actors…
Sanjay Dutt
Famous actor Sanjay Dutt had his third marriage in 2008 with wife Manyata. And not many know this, but Manyata hails from a Muslim family and her father’s name is Dilshan Shaikh.
Hrithik Roshan
Bollywood’s most good-looking actor Hrithik Roshan also married a Muslim woman, Susanne Khan daughter of Sanjay Khan in 2000. Even though the two separated some couple of years back, they have gotten back together now.
Kishore Kumar
The legendary Kishore Kumar’s second wife was actress Madhubala, while the two worked together in many films, they even chose to become life partners in real life.
Raj Babbar
Actor Raj Babbar married Nadira Babbar in 1975, Nadira is a Muslim and her real name is Zahira.
Aditya Pancholi
In 1986, Aditya Pancholi married Zarina Wahab who belongs to a Muslim family. The two got married in Vishaka Patnam. Zarina and Aditya’s relationship has seen a lot of ups and downs.
Manoj Bajpayee
The talented Manoj Bajpayee married actress Neha in 2006. Neha’s real name is Shabana Raj, but after she played a popular character Neha in the film Badari, she got the name associated with her.
Sunil Dutt
Veteran actor late Sunil Dutt who was Sanjay Dutt’s father also married a Muslim woman Nargis, after they fell in love while working in the film Mother India. Nargis’s real name is Fatima Rashid.
Suniel Shetty
Actor Suniel Shetty who we have seen in many popular films in the 90s era got married in 1991. And his wife changed her name to Mana Shetty post marriage, she is actually a Muslim actress whose name was Monisha Qadri.
Kunal Kemmu
Actor Kunal Kemmu who we are seeing ruling the OTT space these days is married to actress Soha Ali Khan and is the son-in-law of the royal Pataudi family.
Pankaj Kapur
Actor Pankaj Kapoor who is Shahid Kapoor’s father married actress Neelima Azeem in 1975. The two were settled in Delhi, where Shahid was born. Later, in 1984 this couple got divorced and Pankaj went on to marry actress, Supriya Pathak.
Written by Nawaz Kochra