When Shiney Ahuja was charged with the rape of his house help two years ago, there was an unexpected visitor at my office late one evening. It was the very well-spoken and well-groomed Anupam Ahuja, a successful company executive who wound up her work in the US to come down and be with her film star husband, Shiney. She’d of course, returned much before the rape case. In fact, amidst several rumours of Shiney going astray and their marriage being on the rocks, all of which he hotly denied, Anupam quietly slipped back into the country and the couple went on to have their first baby. But it was short-lived bliss for her as the rape case soon happened and Anupam found herself squirming in the spotlight.

That evening when she came in with the loud, feisty social activist Ashoke Pandit, much of what we talked about was off-the-record. Naturally, since the case was sub judice. But what emerged was her unstinted loyalty to Shiney. She was convinced that he was innocent and had been set up by somebody. It was a remarkable, surreal kind of experience talking to the wife of a man who’d been accused of raping his housemaid. Because, whether it was consensual sex or a rape, how does a wife feel when she is confronted with her husband’s sexual encounter with the domestic help? Anupam didn’t let on and it was like watching any wife speak up for her ‘wrongly-accused-husband’.

Shiney Ahuja has since been convicted for the rape and sentenced to seven years of RI. By the time his appeals in the High Court and Supreme Court (if need be) are disposed of, the case won’t even make headlines. And this is the fast track we’re talking about. While the law will take its course, it is Anupam with her little daughter who will keep having nightmares. Does Anupam have a choice in this matter? If she were to distance herself from him, it would mean that the wife has also pronounced him guilty. If she stays by his side, she has to play the loyal wife to the hilt. Anupam has chosen the latter role. But then that’s what most wives do, don’t they?

Anupam Ahuja would fall into the category of loyal wives like Hilary Clinton (although there was no crime involved there) or even all the celebrity spouses who look the other way at their husbands’ indiscretions. Years ago, when Rajendra Kumar was alive and was at the top of the heap, his wife Shukla had told me that whenever he travelled outdoors, she’d ask him if he had a good time, shake hands on it and go to bed. No questions asked, no complaints lodged. That was her recipe for a successful marriage. A recipe that even glamorous women like Zarine Khan followed when her husband Sanjay Khan married Zeenat Aman and returned after an acrimonious break-up with the actress.

Three decades ago, when Dharmendra “married” Hema Malini, it was said that since under the law, only the spouse could drag an errant husband to court for bigamy, the actor had got his wife Prakash’s permission before his south Indian marriage ceremony. Dharam was confident that Prakash would never take him to court and she was content that she would continue to be the malkin of their Juhu bungalow.

Understanding celebrity wives are all over the globe and their loyalty is put to the test in different ways. Add Anupam Ahuja to that list now.

Meanwhile, Hema Malini continues to be the marvel who did what she wanted to but always came out unscathed, her dignity intact. A busy actress, parliamentarian and dancer, a chat with Hema is always an exercise in utter and disarming honesty. Perhaps that’s what gives her so much dignity. She was in Chhattisgarh early last week. “I’m here for a dance performance,” she said over the phone, “and will be back in Mumbai late tomorrow evening.” She had a three-day schedule for a film shoot in Mumbai and then, “My party keeps telling me to go here and there. It’s election time you know,” she volunteered. In between all this, she was also making time to take a look at the last portion of Tell Me Khuda, the film she has produced and directed for her daughter, Esha Deol. Isn’t the film her third baby now?

“That’s right but it’s a troublesome baby,” she laughed with mock-consternation in her voice. “At least the first two babies were manageable. But this baby has troubled me from the beginning.” Honest, as always, there will be lots more on Hema and her “troublesome” film very soon all over.

 

Bharathi S. Pradhan is editor, The Film Street Journal