Marry go round

Single and ready to mingle they might be, but when it comes to attracting women, our eligible bachelors lose out to married or divorced men. Women drool over the likes of Salman Khan, John Abraham, Akshaye Khanna, Dino Morea and the younger lot including Shahid Kapur, Ranbir Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh and the likes, but when it comes to relationships, experience is what gets them going these days.

Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen, Urmila Matondkar, Rani Mukerji, Amisha Patel, Mahima Chowdhary, Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor...all beautiful women with a long line of eligible bachelors willing to throw themselves at their feet. But Kareena left the very single Shahid for a divorced Saif Ali Khan; Sushmita had a very public affair with the much-married Vikram Bhatt, who later had a relationship with Amisha Patel; Urmila was linked to a married Ram Gopal Varma; Rani is rumoured to be seeing a separated Aditya Chopra and Mahima and Raveena are married to divorced men as is Karisma.

Earlier, actresses ended up with married and divorced men because by the time they entered the marriage market, they were past their prime. The stigma of marrying such men remained. But now, that doesn't seem to be the problem anymore if these are any indication. Perhaps the most talked about couple in recent times, Saif and Kareena were, till recently, in relationships with other people. Saif dumped his much-older wife Amrita Singh and two kids for Rosa Catalano and Kareena was going steady with Shahid. Tashan came along and the chhote nawab met the Kapoor princess. The rest is history. That Saif has two children and a former wife doesn't seem to bother Bebo much, perhaps because sister Karisma is also married to a divorcee Sanjay Kapur.

Karisma was once engaged to the then single Abhishek Bachchan. Things went horribly wrong between the two Bollywood families and Karisma sought solace in the freshly-vacated arms of her childhood pal Sanjay. Though the marriage hit rough weather in some time, Karisma and Sanjay had a baby together and now, have called a truce. In fact, onlookers can even call them happily-married.

Rani Mukerji's yet another leading lady with a fascination for married men. She was earlier linked to Govinda, who, rumour mills said, walked out on wife Sunita for her. Though that romance fizzled out, Rani's current dalliance with the married and then separated Aditya Chopra seems set to reach the altar. The two haven't gone public with their romance, but Adi is going through a divorce by mutual consent and once that's finalised, Rani just might become the Chopra family's bahu.

Pardes actress Mahima Choudhary, who after liaisons with the then single Ajay Devgan and tennis ace Leander Paes, finally married a divorced business tycoon Bobby Mukherjee. Mahima struck third time lucky and Bobby second time, with the couple now enjoying marital bliss with a newborn daughter. Bobby has two children from his previous marriage.

Raveena Tandon had a failed relationship with Akshay Kumar before she tied the knot with divorced film distributor Anil Thadani. The union has been a harmonious one except for one scene that Anil's ex-wife created at a party. Raveena has had two children with Anil.

Among others who have dated married or divorced men are Shilpa Shetty who confessed to the media she loved a married Raj Kundra but later backtracked on her statement, shouting from the rooftops that she wasn't a ‘home breaker'. Urmila did nothing of the sort when she was linked to a much-married Ram Gopal Varma.

Then there is the case of Aamir Khan. The perfectionist's personal life was less than perfect when he dumped wife Reena and married his assistant Kiran Rao recently. Again, Kiran was single and much younger when she locked eyes with Aamir on the sets of Lagaan. Last heard, they were going great guns.

While men going for younger women after ending their long marriages isn't a new thing, what is surprising is that women are opting for men with a past.

Psychotherapist Dr Anjali Kotnis has an interesting observation. "Most of the women who have gone for older and divorced or married men are young and love-struck. For them, an experienced man is a whole lot more attractive than an inexperienced one. Many have also gone through bad relationships and fall for these men on the rebound," she says.

But not everybody can handle second marriages as well as Salman Khan's father scriptwriter Salim Khan has. He first married a Hindu woman who converted to Islam and then went on to marry dancing queen Helen. Being a Muslim, he did not have to break his first marriage to marry a second time. And the initial acrimony later gave way to a happy family with both wives. Salman has even joked about this arrangement. "He (Salim) is a true example of how someone has been able to handle two wives so well and be happy too. People should learn from him," Salman says.

However, Sallu's escaped the noose so far. But then, the other Khans, Saif and Aamir, have more than made up for him, eh?