Mumbai, August 26 (IANS) Veteran actress Aruna Irani looked visibly bereaved as she arrived at the crematorium for the last rites of her husband and filmmaker Kuku Kohli, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 77 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
A video from the funeral ceremony shows a bereaved Aruna, dressed in white, arriving at the venue. She appeared emotional as she made her way towards the crematorium, with people around her helping her get out of the car.
In another frame, the veteran actress is seen holding someone’s hand as she walks towards the venue.
For the uninitiated, talking about Kuku Kohli, he was best known for directing the 1991 action-romance Phool Aur Kaante, which marked Ajay Devgn’s debut. His other directorial ventures include Haqeeqat, Suhaag, Zulmi, Anari No. 1, Yeh Dil Aashiqanaa and Woh Tera Naam Tha.
While Kuku Kohli’s professional contribution to Hindi cinema is known to all, making him highly reputed in the industry, but his relationship with Aruna Irani remained one of the lesser-known chapters of their lives for many years.
Reportedly, the couple’s love story began on a film set and, interestingly, not on particularly romantic terms. Aruna had earlier revealed that she and Kuku initially shared a “love-hate relationship”. She recalled that he would make the actors wait until Dharmendra arrived on the sets, something that would frustrate her because she was juggling multiple films at the time. Kuku would later console her whenever she was upset, and the equation gradually changed.
Aruna also narrated the story during an appearance on the singing reality show Indian Idol earlier this year.
When host Aditya Narayan mmn had asked her about her experience of working with Kuku, Aruna responded with her trademark wit, “Romance wala experience ya director wala?”
Asked to elaborate on their romantic equation, she said, “Romance to ajeeb baat thi, Kuku ji ka aur mera 36 (chattis) ka aakda tha.”
She then recalled an incident that eventually changed their equation. According to Aruna, she and Suresh Bhatt were joking about Kuku on the sets when the filmmaker asked what they were talking about. Suresh jokingly told him that they were discussing how handsome he looked in a white outfit.
Aruna recalled, “He seriously thought ki main unki tareef kar rahi hoon… then ahista-ahista woh soft hone lage, jab woh soft hone lage to main soft ho gayi… aur pata nahi kab chakkar chal gaya.”
Their relationship, however, was complicated from the beginning. Aruna had revealed that Kuku was already married and had children when they met, and she initially did not know that he had a wife and daughters. She said this was one of the reasons she kept their relationship private for years.
Aruna and Kuku married in 1990, when she was 40. Their marriage remained largely under wraps, and Aruna did not publicly discuss it while Kuku’s first wife, Rita Kohli, was alive. She later explained that she felt it was inappropriate to speak about the relationship publicly out of respect for his first family.
–IANS
rd/