There was a time when it was speculated that then cricketer Imran Khan and one of the finest actresses of Indian cinema, Rekha, were soon to get married, a 1985 newspaper clipping making the rounds on social media has revealed.

“Pakistan’s ace fast bowler Imran Khan and India’s screen glamour girl Rekha are to be married soon,” read a report in The Star citing an Indian film journal.

It further said, “According to the journal’s report, Imran Khan stayed almost the whole of April in Bombay. During this period, he and Rekha were seen enjoying each other’s company on the sea beach, the residence of Premi Shivar Godraj and at night clubs.”

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The journal attributed a statement to Rekha’s mother in which she opined that the man best suited as life partner to her daughter could not be other than Irman Khan.

“She had gone to Delhi and consulted a najoomi [astrologer] if Imran could be an ideal suiter to her daughter. No one knows what the najoomi had said but Rekha’s mother was convinced that Imran could be a welcome addition to her family.”

According to a piece carried by Dawn in 2013, people linked Imran Khan to Bollywood actress Zeenat Aman and Rekha who seemed more eastern for the country’s most eligible bachelor instead of his former wife Jemima Goldsmith.

“After all, it was Rekha who had termed Raj Babbar as ‘side se dekho to bilkul Imran Khan’ in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Jhooti, right?”

Nonetheless, Imran and Jemima tied the knot in 1995 and they stayed together for nine years, during which he fathered two sons with her. The fairytale marriage may have ended but Imran is still on friendly terms with the mother of his children, who constantly supports his views on social media.

After Jemima and his second wife, journalist Reham Khan, now-Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan Imran is currently married to Bushra Bibi.