Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt's infamous kiss didn't bother family, says Rahul Bhatt: 'Humne bachpan se sach dekha hai'

Rahul Bhatt has defended his father Mahesh Bhatt and sister Pooja Bhatt's kiss for a magazine shoot from the 90s.

In the early 90s, when actor Pooja Bhatt was establishing herself as a leading heroine in Bollywood, a controversy almost threatened to derail her career. Pooja and her father, director-producer Mahesh Bhatt, appeared in a film magazine, giving each other a kiss on the mouth. Now, Pooja's brother Rahul Bhatt has spoken about the controversy that refuses to go away.

Rahul Bhatt opens up on the controversy around Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt's infamous kiss.

Rahul Bhatt on the kiss controversy

In an interview with Hindi Rush, Rahul, a fitness trainer, said that the family was never bothered by the backlash to the picture. “Kuch faraq nahi padta hai (It doesn’t bother us). It’s like water off a duck’s back. Humko maloom hai sach kya hai… humne bachpan se dekha hai yaar” (We know the truth… we’ve seen it since childhood),” Rahul said.

He added that being born and brought up in the industry makes children from film families largely immune to such controversies, which is the case with him and his sister. Rahul said, “Film parivar ke bache ya toh bahut messed up hota hai ya bahut mazboot. Logon ko lagta hai humein farq padta hai, magar nahi. (Kids from film families are either really messed up or really strong. People think we care, but we don’t).”

When Pooja Bhatt had defended the innocent moment

This is not the first time that the Bhatt family have addressed the infamous kiss. In 2023, in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Pooja Bhatt had called the moment 'innocent' and slammed those making a controversy out of it for years. "Agar log baap aur beti ke rishte ko alag nazariye se dekh sakte hai toh woh kuch bhi kar sakte hai. Phir hum baat karte hain family values ki. Bahut kamal ka joke hai (If people can look at a father-daughter relationship from a twisted lens, they’re capable of anything. Then we talk about family values. What an incredible joke that is),” she said.