In Bollywood, everyone's related!

Is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan related to Mithun Chakravorty? Did you know Mithun shared a connection with the Kapoors through his wife Yogeeta
Bali... as do the Bachchans? Not to mention that Yogeeta's ex-husband Kishore Kumar's sister was Kajol's grandmother! Connect the dots!

The Kapoors, of course, are related to directors Manmohan Desai and Ramesh Sippy. And, while Hrithik is related to his wife's brother Zayed Khan and first cousin Fardeen Khan, the links stretch to sweep Tabu into the family too.

While Sanjay Dutt's sister Namrata is married to Kumar Gaurav
, Rajendra Kumar's son, he also shares a rumoured 'illegitimate' connection with the first family of India, the Gandhis!

Kajol, besides being Nutan's niece, also has 1950s actress Nalini Jaywant as an aunt, shares film historian Dinesh Raheja. He adds, "As for Kareena Kapoor, her mother Babita's cousin was Sadhana — the heartthrob of the 60s. It was Babita's father who introduced Sadhana to Bollywood."

Raheja reveals that director Kalpana Lajmi's mother was Guru Dutt's sister. Lajmi isn't sure of a family connection with Deepika Padukone, but suggests it's possible, as Guru Dutt's original surname was Padukone. "The Padukones belong to a small community of Saraswat Brahmins forced to migrate from Kashmir," she says.

Welcome to Bollywood, where everyone's related! Author and critic Anupama Chopra says, "Yes, it's not even six degrees of separation. Did you know that Mahesh Bhatt is related to Dharmesh Darshan?" Bhatt confirms, "Dharmesh is my sister's son. Emraan (Hashmi) and Mohit Suri are also my nephews."

Author Madhu Jain says, "Tinnu Anand is also distantly related to Raj Kapoor, while Ramanand Sagar is related to Vidhu Vinod Chopra." Anupama Chopra, married to Vidhu Vinod affirms, "Yes, they are half-brothers. Their father married Vinod's mother after Ramanand's mother expired."

Here are some more filmi connections!

HRITHIK, FARDEEN... AND TABU TOO!

Hrithik is related to Fardeen and Zayed. But, did you know there is... rather, was... a family link to Tab u , whose sister Farah mar ried and later divorced D a ra Singh's son. The strongman's brother Randhawa is married to Mallika, sister of yesteryear actress Mumtaz, Fardeen's m o t h e r- i n - l aw. Mallika's son Shaad made his debut in Woh Lamhe. Tabu is also famously Shabana Azmi's niece. Azmi is married to Javed Akhtar, whose ex-wife is Honey Irani, choreographer Farah Khan's aunt. Javed and Honey's children are directors Farhan and Zoya Akhtar.

AMRITA, SAIF, KAREENA... AND DILIP KUMAR!

The legendary Begum Para was married to Dilip Kumar's brother Nasir Khan. Their son Ayub Khan is an actor. Her niece Rukhsana Sultana was Amrita Singh's mother. Amrita's also writer and columnist Khushwant Singh's niece.

Amrita Singh's exhusband Saif is actress Sharmila Tagore's son. Incidentally, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor's families were as close as brothers, according to Madhu Jain's current reprint of The Kapoors, and came from the same side of town in Peshawar. In switching from Amrita to Kareena Kapoor, Saif has just gone from one side of the fence to the other!

Saira Bano, meanwhile, is the daughter of Naseem Banu and aunt to actress Shaheen, married to actor Sumeet Saigal.

MITHUN, YOGEETA, THE KAPOORS, MANMOHAN DESAI, THE BACHCHANS & RAMESH SIPPY!

Mithun Chakraborty's wife Yogeeta Bali's aunt was Geeta Bali, actor Shammi Kapoor's first wife. This means Gen Now's Mimoh (Mithun's son), Kareena and Ranbir Kapoor are family! Shammi Kapoor's daughter is wedded to filmmaker Manmohan Desai's son Ketan Desai. Shashi Kapoor's son Kunal Kapoor married Ramesh Sippy's daughter. His brother Raj Kapoor's daughter Ritu Nanda's son Nikhil Nanda is married to Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's daughter Shweta. Ramesh Sippy, incidentally, is also director Rohan Sippy's father and the son of producer GP Sippy. Raj Kapoor's wife Krishna's brothers were actors Premnath and Rajendranth. Manmohan Desai, when he passed away, was said to be engaged to yesteryear actress Nanda, the great-niece of filmmaker V Shantaram and daughter of actors Master Vinayak and Meenaxi. As for the other Kapoors... while Anil Kapoor's father Surinder Kapoor was Geeta Bali's secretary, the Kapoor families aren't related. "We're country cousins," says Aditya Raj Kapoor, Geeta Bali and Shammi Kapoor's son.

SUNIL DUTT, NARGIS AND NEHRU?

Motilal Nehru is rumoured to have been enamoured by Daleepabai, Allahabad's famous courtesan. The outcome of their relationship was allegedly illegitimate daughter Jaddanbai, who gave birth to actress Nargis. Meghnad Desai, who researched for the star's biography with wife Kishwar, has been quoted as saying that Jaddanbai even tied a rakhi to Nehru. If this is true, then cut to this generation... and Sanjay Dutt could be Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi's uncle!

NASEERUDDIN, RATNA, PANKAJ KAPOOR... & SHAHID!

Actor Naseeruddin Shah is married to actor Ratna Pathak. Her sister Supriya Pathak is married to fellow actor Pankaj Kapoor. Kapoor's son from his first marriage to Neelima Azeem is actor Shahid Kapoor. Shah's son Imaad has also made his Bollywood debut.
KISHORE KUMAR, KAJOL, RANI: CHALTI KA NAAM... FAMILY!

The youngest of the Ganguly brothers, Kishore Kumar was married thrice — to Madhubala, Yogeeta Bali and Leena Chandavarkar. His son is singer Amit Kumar.

His elder brother Ashok's daughter is actress Preeti Ganguly, comedian Deven Verma's wife. Ashok's grand-daughter is actress Anuradha Patel.

His sister Sati married Sashadhar Mukherjee, and their son Shomu married Tanuja, actress Shobhna Samarth's daughter and Nutan's sister. While Kajol is Tanuja's daughter, Nutan's son is Mohnish Behl. Sati was also aunt-by-marriage to Ram Mukherjee, actress Rani Mukherjee's father.