A Tale of Love, Betrayal and Murder

Akshay Kumar’s Rustom is one of the most awaited movies of this year, and the audience is waiting with bated breath. So before the movie hits the silver screen, let’s brush up our knowledge about the famous story that has inspired Rustom.

Commander Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, whose role Akshay will portray as Rustom Pavri, was an Indian Navy Officer, who was settled in Bombay with his two sons and English wife, Sylvia. Nanavati being in the navy had to stay away from home for his assignments and that is when love blossomed between Sylvia and Nanavati’s friend, Prem Ahuja. Sylvia was keen on divorcing her husband and getting married to Prem Ahuja, a man with philandering ways, who had no similar intentions. This came into the picture through Sylvia’s letters to her lover that was later recovered.

On April 27, 1959, Nanavati came back from one such assignment and noticed a sea change in his wife’s behaviour as she wasn’t her usual self and seemed a little distant . On being confronted, she came out clean about her affair with the family friend, Prem Ahuja but also expressed her concern about the playboy paramour not reciprocating her feelings. Nanavati did not put on the expressive demeanour and as previously planned dropped his kids and wife to the Metro cinema for a matinee show of Tom Thumb. And then he turned his car towards the naval base to collect his pistol and six cartridges. When Sylvia was asked during the interrogation, why she left her husband in such an agitated and tumultuous state, she replied that she was aware of some kind of a mishap that was about to happen but it was difficult explaining things to the children, so she got down at the cinema hall. 

Meanwhile, Nanavati went to Prem’s office where he could nto find Ahuja since he had gone home for lunch. So Nanavati turned his car towards the direction of his home in Setalvad Lane off Napean Sea Road, near Malabar Hill.

On reaching there, he was let in by the domestic help. Ahuja was just out of his bathroom when he met Nanavati. He asked Prem whether he intended to marry Sylvia and accept his two children. When Prem refused, Nanavati fired three shots and Prem lay slumped on the floor. And that’s how Rustom got the tagline ‘3 Shots that shook the nation’.

Soon after killing Ahuja, Nanavati went to the police station and confessed his crime. Nanavati was known as someone who was most loyal to his profession and most importantly to his country, a true patriot. He had no criminal history. Mamie Ahuja, the sister of Prem Ahuja, alleged that it was a cold-blooded murder that was premeditated. With this argument in mind, the then young lawyer Ram Jethmalani appealed to the Bombay high court. The Bombay High Court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The case was later referred to Supreme Court, which upheld the High Court’s decision. 

This case led to a major rift between the Parsi and Sindhi communities. Nanavati was a Parsi while Ahuja was a Sindhi. Vijaylakshmi Pandit, the newly appointed Governor of Maharashtra worked in the direction of pardoning Nanavati. Soon Nanavati was released after spending three years in prison and moved to Canada with his wife and two children. In 2003, he passed away in Canada, leaving behind his family. The Nanavati case is one of the most sensational court cases in India. Before Akshay Kumar’s Rustom, Ye Raastey Hain Pyaar key starring Sunil Dutt, Ashok Kumar, and Leela Naidu hit the screens on 1963 based on the same plot and it tasted box-office success.

The makers of Rustom hope bring the memories of the famous Nanavati case. So mark August 12 on your calendar, Rustom is all set to take you on a roller-coaster ride.