Karisma Kapoor-Abhishek Bachchan had good chemistry, their engagement ended due to external reasons, says Suneel Darshan: ‘A protective Babita…'

Indian Express

31-07-2025

Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor were among the most talked about couple in the early 2000s. After meeting each other at Nikhil Nanda and Shweta Bachchan's wedding in 1997, the couple dated for five years. In 2002, on the occasion of Amitabh Bachchan's 60th birthday, the Kapoor and Bachchan family announced their engagement. However, a few months later, the duo broke off their engagement. Both Kapoors and Bachchans refused to comment on the development, giving rise to several theories. One of which suggested that it was Karisma's mother who played a role in breaking up the couple.
Theories also speculated that it majorly had to do with Abhishek Bachchan's unstable career and the ABCL controversy that left Big B bankrupt. Now, filmmaker-producer Suneel Darshan has shared details about Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor's broken relationship.
In a conversation with Vickey Lalwani, the filmmaker said, 'Destiny has brought a lot of turbulence in the lives of the Kapoor girls. That's how I would word it. A lot of turbulence and a lot of tumult. They are fortunate to have a protective mother like Babita, but maybe in the process of protecting them, she might have made some mistakes. She is human after all and not God. Everybody does mistake.'
He added, 'These girls were brought up with lot of love, care and were supported for their careers. I don't want to delve deeper than this in this topic because I am not their immediate family.'
When asked about chemistry between Abhishek and Karisma, the filmmaker shared it was similar to their chemistry in his 2002 film Han Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya (which was a box office disaster). In that film, Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor play colleagues-turned-lovers, who get married, but the former cheats on her only to be reunited at the end of the movie when she is about to marry the character of Akshay Kumar.
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He shared, 'They did have a chemistry between them but it was more like the kind of chemistry they had in my film Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya.' He explained, 'Essentially, it is about trust and belief. Sometimes it is very well maintained, sometimes it's uncontrollable. It was good until issues from the outside world began to enter their lives. They created the problems and disturbed their relationship.'
Just a few months after breaking her relationship with Abhishek Bachchan, Karisma Kapoor married multi millionaire businessman Sunjay Kapur in 2003. She was his second wife and divorced him 13 years after their wedding after welcoming a son and a daughter. Sunjay Kapur breathed his last on 12 June this year after allegedly swallowing a bee, causing him a cardiac arrest.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Bachchan found love in his Guru co-star Aishwarya Rai. They tied the knot in 2007. They have a daughter Aaradhya.