Dosti Mein ‘Daraar’?

It is a decades-long friendship. Rima Jain (70), younger sister of Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor, and actress-socialite-entrepreneur Tina Ambani (68), have literally been soul mates for the better part of thirty-five years.

Rima and Tina got along famously from the start of their friendship in the early 90s. They are just a couple of years apart, and both are known for their candour. They are livewires with a robust sense of humour and good family values.

Also, the two of them had a strong common friend in Supriya Sule, the Working National President of the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP). Supriya is said to hold both Rima and Tina close.

However, the latest, according to the grapevine, is that the equation between Rima and Tina is reportedly cooling off.

How did the friendship begin?

Tina was one of Rishi Kapoor’s most favourite co-stars (Karz, Yeh Vaada Raha, etc.) and she has also done a couple of films with Randhir Kapoor (Harjaee, Pukar). Tina was an important star in the 80s. And after her marriage to leading industrialist Anil Ambani in 1991, she became the South Mumbai queen. Randhir and Rishi would often joke, saying, “She is our Lady Diana.” And they appreciated the fact that Tina, despite her newly acquired wealth and status in society, didn’t lose touch with her friends from the film industry that included the Kapoor siblings, filmmaker Subhash Ghai, Rima included. In fact, because of Rima, Tina also maintained friendly ties with Neetu Kapoor because they were part of a common social circle.

Mauke pe chauka

As is typically the case with socialites, the moment they spotted a “Lady Diana quotient” in their midst, that too, one who had headlines in showbiz, they all started to court her for their cocktail soirees, fancy brunches, Ganesh pujas and maata ki chowkis. Avaricious, attention-seeking journalists, power brokers, film stars and their families were all happy to be in Tina’s good books and in her social diary. Recently, things changed.

Why did the tide turn?

For a period of time now, Tina’s husband, Anil, is continuously making distressing headlines, reportedly, for being in a financial spot. And though Tina maintains the same level of warmth she always did, some people now have fractured relations with her. A superstar wife recently told us, “Reportedly, a couple of SOBO socialites/entrepreneurs have started to quietly distance themselves from Tina. When it is unavoidable, they put up a pretence of ‘all being well’, especially because some of their common friends still have high regard for Tina. But there are turncoats who are expertly playing that ‘we’re-not-free-this-evening’ game with her quite often.”

There’s still hope, because there’s still some trust

Lucky for Tina, she still has some rock-solid friends like a female politician, a mega-star’s daughter and a couple of other superstar wives, who remain fully invested in her. She also has a very large supportive family and her friends from her pre-celebrity phase, who stand by her like real rocks.

Will true friendship ultimately triumph?

As of now, two key members of the Raj Kapoor khandaan are reportedly maintaining a distance from Tina. One of them actually confessed this to our source. We are optimistic that eventually the bridges will be mended. And the song from Sangam—“Dost Dost Na Raha”—will not play on loop.