What makes Rahul Mahajan a hot bachelor ?
The last time Rahul Mahajan got married was a little similar in some ways to this time – the whole country was talking about it but no one was sure what kind of groom Rahul was going to turn out to be.
The difference now is that Rahul then was big news, but just news. This time, he’s the best kind of celebrity there is – the kind that’s famous just for being famous, the kind who might be loved or hated, but is always, always watched.
The son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan has redefined celebrityhood in India in some ways – he’s never been in the news, really, for anything good. He came into the limelight three years ago, at age 31, when his father was shot dead by his uncle Pravin Mahajan. For about a month, Rahul was seen as a sort of Rajiv Gandhi redux – the responsible, grieving son, the potential inheritor of his father’s political legacy. But he shattered that when he and Pramod Mahajan’s secretary Bibek Maitra were rushed, unconscious, to a hospital in Delhi after an alleged drug and alcohol overdose. Rahul was released from hospital amid a swirling controversy after Maitra died. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of drug possession and use.
After this spectacular entry into fame, Rahul rushed into an equally suspicious wedding with ‘childhood sweetheart’ and fellow pilot Shweta Singh, with everyone wondering why. After all, the dulha was fresh from his father’s demise and a drug abuse controversy. But maybe he’d sown his wild oats and learnt from tragedy.
But Rahul, it seems, is to the camera born. Scandalous rumours emerged soon after his marriage, despite occasional half-hearted denials from Rahul and complete silence from Shweta. He was allegedly beating her up, reports said. Barely a year and a half after the wedding, Shweta filed for divorce, which was granted in 2008. A few months after that, Rahul was chosen as part of a bunch of brash loudmouths and wannabes to be part of Bigg Boss 2. Rahul romanced two girls on the show, most famously ex-gangster’s moll Monica Bedi. Bigg Boss 2 ended but everyone remembers Rahul’s exit, when he broke out of the house with three remaining male inmates and chose a voluntary exit from the show after refusing to apologise for the incident.
With the show, Rahul discovered his love for notoriety. But if the number of applications for his swayamvar equivalent on TV, Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega, is any indication to go by, drug abuse, wife beating, a messy divorce, and the lack of a bona fide job are no deterrents for marriageable girls. In fact, the show hasn’t even started, but Rahul’s begun to prove that he’s born to living out a controversial life on national television – he’s had the show dates shifted by a month on the advice of his astrologer after having the 16 shortlisted girls’ kundalis matched with his. Apparently, Rahul is serious about finding his one true love and getting married again, and he’s turned superstitious at the prospect. “A lot has happened with me in the last three years. Today is the start of a new chapter of my life a new beginning,” he said, announcing the show.
