Bollywood beauties and their alleged affairs with the underworld

According to BollywoodShadis, Monica Bedi’s relationship with notorious gangster Abu Salem was an attention-seeking love story that soon turned into a nightmare. The actress enjoyed stardom for her roles in a few Hindi and Telugu films, was in a live-in relationship with Abu Salem, and then in 2002, they were arrested in Portugal for travelling on fake documents. After being extradited to India, she spent years in jail. Monica has tried to rehabilitate herself after that with TV appearances, including 'Bigg Boss', but her relationship with Abu Salem is still her most defining and controversial aspect of her life.

Mamta Kulkarni was involved in mature controversies related to her alleged relationships with underworld don Chhota Rajan, as well as the drug lord, Vicky Goswami. According to Moneycontrol, for some reason, she was rumored to be dating Rajan at the time of the release of 'China Gate' (1998), and her relationship with Vicky Goswami blossomed in Dubai. She denied they wed, though some reports claimed they were married in 2013. In 2016, she was named in a ₹2,000 crore drug bust case, to which she was declared to be absconding. In 2024, she subsequently surprised everyone by renouncing worldly life at the Maha Kumbh.

Mandakini, the star of Raj Kapoor's 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili' in the 1980s, became the center of one of the most sensational and scandalous stories to arise from Bollywood. According to Quint, the allegations presented Mandakini as linked romantically with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who continues to be India's most wanted man. While Mandakini never confirmed any allegation linking her to Dawood, there were a few old photographs that came out of her with Dawood. The memories of Dawood's notoriety amplified the rumors with intense media speculation. To add intrigue, she disappeared from films and led a very low-key life. Many years later, she appeared again in public as a yoga teacher and denied any romantic relationships with the gangster.

According to MensXP, actress Sona's involvement with notorious Mumbai smuggler Haji Mastan is one of the earliest known entanglements of Bollywood and the underworld. Mastan ruled the docks and the smuggling business in Mumbai in the 70s, and he adored cinema, so naturally, he fell for Sona, who was supposedly a spitting image of Madhubala. Their alleged marriage and her later withdrawal from acting were suggestive of their relationship. The story was fictionalized in 'Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai'—essentially a cinematic tribute to their shared world of criminal behavior and stardom.

Anju Mahendru, who was famously involved with Rajesh Khanna for an extended period, was also supposed to be involved with an underworld figure during the 1980s, though again, there was never any proof. Anju was unnamed, untagged and uncited in any of the mainstream media, but appeared at some noteworthy parties, which happened to be frequented mainly by underworld figures, with respect to her prominence in the tabloids around that time. Anju, unlike everyone else on this list, was legitimately silent about these types of comments, which remain whispers with no legitimate evidence, but contribute to the muddiness between Bollywood's glamour and the underworld of Mumbai.