EXCLUSIVE: ‘Teary-eyed’ Mahesh Bhatt recalls his father refused to perform his mother’s last rites due to religion: That broke my heart

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt is the latest and the last guest to grace Arbaaz Khan’s talk show, The Invincibles on Bollywood Bubble. Alia Bhatt’s father Mahesh Bhatt bares it all and speaks his heart about being an illegitimate child, his mother and father’s love, how his mother concealed her identity and many more. Amongst many, Mahesh gets a little emotional and teary-eyed when he spoke about the time when his father refused to perform his mother’s last rites due to religion.

Mahesh Bhatt on his mother’s funeral:

Arbaaz Khan asked him if he has any angst against his father, Mahesh Bhatt quickly said, “Yes, for a really long time. I can’t tear my veins and bleed him out of my system. I am born of him.” When asked if there was any initiation of reconciliation from his side.

The Sadak director exclusively told us, “Unfortunately, he made it very difficult for me. He did because you see when my mother died in 1998, her only wish was that if I die, I want to be buried according to my faith. I said fine. I remember that when she died and my father came with his wife I mean she was an amazing woman. That’s the time he put sindoor in her maang and I said ‘oh my God too little too late’, that broke me down when I saw that side. Because she always wanted a picture of him publicly accepting it but then I told him I said ‘look, yeah 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 karde beta mere mazhab mujhe wahan jaane ki permission nahi deta (Please forgive me, my religion doesn’t allow me to do this) that broke my heart but I was not angry at that moment. Strangely, I said look main toh beta hoon mujhe toh jaana padega jaise unhone kaha hai. (I’m her son and I will do as per what she said) that was her last wish I said woh toh uparwala bhi deny nahi kar sakta hai (even God can’t deny this request)“

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Bhatt even spoke about how his parents met and how they were considered as the ‘illegitimate house’. Mahesh revealed that his mother concealed her identity.

“When you are stigmatized as an illegitimate child talk about that I mean my parents it was in post-independent India in 1948 I was born my mother was a Shia Muslim and but we lived in Shivaji Park which is in the majority of the Faith of people there are Hindus there and she concealed her identity and she wore a saree and donned a tika so my father was a filmmaker very reputed filmmaker he fell in love with my mother but because of the religious biases that existed we were the illegitimate house so the leftovers came to us he his story was that there was no way that his mother was going to allow the other a Muslim woman right but they had fallen in love,” said Pooja Bhatt’s father.

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Mahesh Bhatt’s parents Nanabhai Bhatt and Shirin Mohammed Ali were never married to each other.

Watch the full interview here:

Also read: Alia Bhatt’s father Mahesh Bhatt is ‘alright’ reveals son Rahul as filmmaker undergoes heart surgery