When Amitabh Bachchan broke his silence on why Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor's engagement was called off: 'If I may be brutally honest...'

On Amitabh Bachchan's 60th birthday on October 11, 2002, Jaya Bachchan announced Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor's engagement. It could have been the union of two of the biggest Bollywood families - Bachchans and Kapoors, but their engagement was called off in January 2003. Later in the same year, Karisma married the industrialist Sunjay Kapur and divorced him in 2016. Sunjay died recently in London due to a heart attack after he accidentally swallowed a bee while playing a polo match in London. On the other hand, Abhishek tied the knot with Aishwarya Rai in 2007. Their divorce rumours often make headlines.

In January 2005, Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan came on the first season of Karan Johar-hosted reality show Koffee With Karan, where Big B addressed Abhishek and Karisma's broken engagement for the first time. When Karan asked him if that period was a difficult time for the family, the Sholay star replied, "It was a sensitive moment. Relationships are being formed, relationships are being destroyed. It can be distressing for any young man, and obviously distressing for the family. We don't wish that to happen to anyone, but if the circumstances are not conducive for a union, then it's better that you go different ways. That's what happened."

"I think all these episodes in one's life are the episodes that will improve him as a human being, make him a better man, teach him to face the world in a much stronger way. If I may be absolutely, brutally honest, it gives you an opportunity of learning in the profession we are in. And the family has always worshipped what my father taught me, many many years ago, 'Mann ka ho toh acha, Mann ka naa ho toh aur zyaada acha, woh fir bhagwaan ke mann ka hota hai aur bhagwaan aapke liye, kabhi bura nahi chahega (If it happens as per yor will, then it's good, if it doesn't happen as per you will, then it's better, because then it's God's will and God will never wish bad for you)", Amitabh concluded.

READ | Meet actress, who refused to work with Sushant Singh Rajput, called him 'TV actor', later she was cast opposite him in