Rekha's first hero was once bigger star than Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, was married twice, went to jail due to..., Dev Anand was his..

Many shining stars in Bollywood, over the years, have taken Hindi cinema to new heights. These include the names of superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Vinod Khanna, and Dharmendra. But there is one actor who, at one time, was a bigger superstar than both Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. However, his luck changed, and so his fame too went away from him. Not only this, he also had to go to jail due to his wife's suicide case. The actor we are talking about is none other than Navin Nischol, who was once counted as one of the biggest superstars. 

Born in a Bengali family in Lahore, Navin Nischol took up modeling after completing school and even won the primary round of Mr India in Delhi in the 60s. After this, he came to Mumbai for the finals, where he met his father's friend and well-known director Mohan Segal, who asked him to enroll in Pune's Film and Television Institute of India. Navin Nischol's popularity knew no bounds as he became the first gold medalist from the Film and Television Institute of India to make it big in the film industry. 

Navin Nischol made his big Bollywood debut with the 1970 film Sawan Bhadon, produced and directed by Mohan Segal. Sawan Bhadon marked the Bollywood debut of both Navin Nischol and Rekha and became a super hit. Soon, filmmakers became eager to cast Navin Nischol in their films. The actor appeared in several superhit films such as Victoria No. 203 (1972), Dhund (1973), and Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005). Hanste Zakhm was the great breakthrough of his career. 

There was a time when Navin Nischol was considered a bigger star than Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna. However, in the mid-70s, Navin Nischol went through commercial failure, due to which his career graph started falling, forcing him to take up character roles.

While professionally his films continued to struggle, Navin Nischol's personal life was also not a bed of roses. 

Navin Nischol's first marriage was to Dev Anand's niece Neelu Kapur, sister of Shekhar Kapur. The marriage ended in divorce because of link-up rumours between him and Padmini Kapila. Navin Nischol then married divorcee Geetanjali. However, on April 24, 2006, Geetanjali hanged herself at her residence. She blamed Navin and his brother Pravin for her suicide.

She left behind a suicide note, claiming that Navin 'harassed' her and she was 'mentally tortured' and that Navin's brother Pravin 'instigated' him to harass her. This led to Navin Nischol and his brother Pravin being sent to police custody by a local court until May 6, 2006. As reported by India Today, Navin Nischol's lawyer Satish Maneshinde claimed that Geetanjali was suffering from depression and had alcohol addiction issues. Both Navin Nischol and his brother Pravin were eventually released from jail. 

On March 19, 2011, Navin Nischol died of a heart attack in Pune. He has two daughters, Natasha and Nomita, from his first marriage.

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