L'affaire Ajitabh

IT'S a love-triangle straight out of Silsila. Only the Bachchan involved is different. Sarosh Zaiwalla, noted London-based solicitor, who helped clear Amitabh Bachchan's name in the Bofors gun deal, has charged the actor's brother, Ajitabh Bachchan, of having an affair with his wife Renoo, which has led to their divorce. He has also alleged that Ajitabh slept with an employee of his firm. "I feel terribly let down by the Bachchans whom I helped when they were in difficulty. I feel a bit deceived," says Zaiwalla.

Zaiwalla shot to fame in the late '80s when he persuaded the Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nhyeter, to withdraw (and apologise for) its allegation that Ajitabh held the mysterious sixth account in the Bofors' kickbacks. The 'victory' brought Zaiwalla closer to the Bachchans—Ajitabh and his wife, Ramola—whom he helped immigrate from Switzerland: "For the first time, I treated a client as a friend." 

Evidently, it drove the Zaiwallas apart, leading to the breakup of their 14-year marriage last year. "Suddenly, one day, she said she wanted an independent life.

 She suggested a protocol marriage in which she could have her boyfriends and I could have my girlfriends, but we would appear in public as husband and wife." Renoo, whom Zaiwalla met in Bombay, however gave no reasons for her suggestion. Ajitabh and Ramola, too, are believed to have an open-ended marriage.

Finding Renoo's proposal unacceptable, Zaiwalla, who his friend Navaz Hilloowala describes as an Indian in Britain without being one of them, sought a divorce by consent. According to Society magazine, before filing the petition, Zaiwalla wrote to Ajitabh asking him to confirm or deny if he had physical relations with Renoo. There was no response. Says Zaiwalla: "Ajitabh used to say he was mykamarjod (Siamese twin). My trust clouded my judgement." 

 Ramola Bachchan, who gave interviews scoffing at rumours that linked her hus-band to the wife of the high-flying lawyer, dismisses Zaiwalla's allegations as a "load of absolute nonsense" and refuses to speak further on the matter. Ajitabh did not return messages both in Bombay and London. Renoo, who shifted to Wimbledon after the divorce, is now in San Francisco, where her children Freya, 15, and Varun, 12, will join her, following their holiday in Spain with Zaiwalla.

Zaiwalla does not reveal how long the affair may have gone on behind his back, but a journalist who interviewed him five years ago, says that the lawyer had seemed reluctant to talk about his wife or discuss his personal life even then. Despite that, Zaiwalla met Sonia Gandhi recently and told her how appalled he was by the Bachchans' behaviour. And although Zaiwalla denies it, a family friend discloses: "Sarosh also wrote to Amitabh asking him to intervene and ask his sister-in-law (Ramola) to behave."

 The younger of the Bachchan brothers rarely appears in public. Photographer Pala-shranjan Bhaumick, who has met Ajitabh, found him an introvert. But Zaiwalla obviously disagrees for he alleges that Ajitabh also had an affair with a married clerk in his office: "I can't imagine what he saw in that fat Chinese lady. I was appalled when I heard he'd taken her to the Savoy Hotel and splashed a lot of money. I didn't know about that affair till she quit. I don't know what she was telling Ajitabh. It was professionally improper for a client to get information like that." 

Zaiwalla, whose proximity to 10, Downing Street is fairly well-known among his colleagues on Chancery Lane—John Major asked him to co-organise a meeting for Indian businessmen last year—says the breakup of his marriage initially affected his standing in the Indian community in Britain. Shattered and devastated, he stopped flitting among the social butterflies: "People thought I had acquired a mistress. I suspect it was Ajitabh and Ramola who spread the rumours. I don't think my ex-wife could have done it."

 Rumours of an office romance notwithstanding, Zaiwalla says he hasn't thought of remarriage, but the Ajitabh episode has taught him to be more careful, personally and professionally. "Our relations with the Indian High Commission had soured because of the Bachchan case. V.P. Singh didn't like us acting on their behalf. Thankfully, we've good relations with this Government." With Stardust boss Nari Hira planning an 'explosive', rest assured, l'affaire Ajitabh will generate some more heat before the dust settles down.