Kunickaa Sadanand, now a contestant on Bigg Boss 19, recently surprised many with her candid admission about her past with playback singer Kumar Sanu. She revealed that she had been in a live-in relationship with him for 27 years, despite knowing he was married, and that the bond eventually ended when he chose to move on with someone else. Kunickaa said she is speaking about it only now so that she can finally feel “light.”
‘She was also having an affair,’ says Kumar Sanu’s ex-wife
Her statements, however, have drawn a sharp response from Kumar Sanu’s former wife, Rita Bhattacharya. In a recent interaction, Rita recalled her own experience at the time, pointing out that Kunickaa too was complicit in the affair. “When she (Kunickaa) spoke about Sanuji having an affair with someone else, she was also doing the same. When Sanu Ji was staying with her, they were having an affair, he was married to me, I was pregnant with my son,” Rita said.
Questions Kunickaa’s claim of suppressing grief for 27 years
Rita also questioned Kunickaa’s remarks about carrying the burden of grief for 27 years. “She is telling everyone she was suppressing her grief for 27 years, you have a 26-year-old son. Where did you get so much grief? When you have a 26-year-old son, how are you suppressing grief from 27 years? You can marry a 70-year-old woman and have a 26-year-old son? Not in my country,” she remarked.Kumar Sanu and Rita Bhattacharya were married in the late 1980s and had three children before their divorce in 1994. It was during this time that the singer grew close to Kunickaa. The actress, meanwhile, has said in an interview with Siddharth Kanan that she was “like a wife” to Sanu — choosing his clothes, managing his performances, and standing by his side at shows. “It felt like a relationship similar to Shakuntala and Dushyant. But later, I discovered things about him that broke my heart,” she admitted.
