One of the most well-known directors in the Indian film industry, Mahesh Bhatt, has always been open about his personal life. Mahesh Bhatt, a Bollywood scriptwriter, has contributed many years of hard work to the film industry. Even still, it appears that the actor hasn’t fully recovered from his painful past, including some of his most tragic fates in childhood and adolescence.
Mahesh Bhatt’s father, Nanabhai Bhatt, was a well-known film director and producer in the Indian film industry. Mahesh Bhatt recently spoke with Arbaaz Khan about his childhood and how he experienced stigma as an “illegitimate child.” The Zakhm director revealed that his Muslim mother, Shirin Mohammad Ali, hid her religion because they lived in a predominantly Hindu area when he was born. He added that all she wished for was to be accepted by Mahesh’s Hindu father, Nanabhai Bhatt. But he never gave his mother the respect she deserved because he was already married and had his own family.
Bhatt recalled that when his mother passed away her last wish was to be buried according to her faith. When Bhatt’s father came for the funeral, that was the first time he put sindoor in her maang. Seeing this broke the filmmaker. “I remember that when she died, and my father came with his wife, that’s the time he put sindoor in her maang and I said ‘too little too late’. That broke me down. She always wanted a picture of him publicly accepting her,” he recalled.
When Mahesh told his father about his mother’s last wish, he refused to come along to the shia kabristan. “I told him that she told me that she would like to be buried where her mother’s buried in the shia kabristan. I looked at his face and his face went white. And he said mujhe maaf kar de beta, mera mazhab mujhe vahan jaane ki permission nahi deta. That broke my heart,” Mahesh shared.
The director said that he did not feel any anger at that moment, and told his father, “I said ‘main toh beta hun, mujhe toh jana padega jaise unhone kaha hai. Woh right toh uparwala bhi deny nahi kar sakta mujhe. Bhatt said that his father was a “prisoner of his own upbringing,” but this episode “scarred” him for life. “My eyes still well up with tears,” he shared emotionally. Bhatt’s 1998 film Zakhm was loosely based on his childhood.