Actor and activist Somy Ali has reopened one of Bollywood’s coldest mysteries: the disappearance of Raj Kiran.
Once a familiar face in films such as Karz, Arth, Baseraa and Raaj Tilak, Raj Kiran was last seen by his family in 2003. Since then, there have been alleged sightings, private detectives, a police search and claims that he was living inside an institution in the United States.
None of them has led to him.
Somy says she has spent years searching across the US, determined to fulfil a promise made to the late Rishi Kapoor. Her revelation has now returned the spotlight to a question Bollywood has been unable to answer for more than two decades: where is Raj Kiran?
A Star Begins To Fade
Raj Kiran Mahtani made his Bollywood debut in BR Ishara’s Kaagaz Ki Nao in 1975. Over the next two decades, he appeared in more than 100 films.
Karz introduced him to a wider audience in 1980, while Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth earned him critical acclaim two years later. His filmography also included Shikshaa, Maan Abhiman, Ek Naya Rishta, Justice Chaudhury, Baseraa and Raaj Tilak.
He later appeared in television shows such as Reporter, Aakhir Kaun and Aahat.
But by the early 1990s, the roles had begun to disappear. An actor who once had several releases a year was slowly pushed out of the frame.
Reports later claimed that Raj struggled with depression as his career declined, although these accounts came from colleagues and family members and were not clinical diagnoses.
His personal life was also reportedly unravelling. Raj was married to Roopa, with whom he had two daughters, Rishika and Mannat. Reports later claimed that Roopa remarried after his disappearance.
The Night At Puttaparthi
In 1996, Raj Kiran was arrested after allegedly trying to enter Sathya Sai Baba’s Puttaparthi Ashram at night.
According to Deccan Herald, he had hired a tractor and a ladder to get inside. He was arrested and spent 34 days in Bengaluru Central Jail before his father secured his release.
A year later, Raj described the ordeal to Cine Blitz.
“The trauma that I faced when I was put in jail is indescribable. You can never understand the fear one feels when you are told that you cannot be bailed out. I spent 34 days in jail, and sitting there, I was not sure if I would ever be free. That is a very scary feeling.”
Raj maintained that the episode had been exaggerated. But it became another disturbing chapter in a life that appeared to be slipping out of control.
Mahesh Bhatt Finds A Different Man
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt later met Raj at Mumbai’s Masina Hospital, where the actor was reportedly receiving psychiatric treatment.
“Many years ago, when he was in the psychiatric ward of Masina Hospital, he was not the Raj Kiran I had known. He looked sombre and depressed, and spoke with great difficulty. There was none of the energy or enthusiasm that we associated with him,” Bhatt told Rediff in 2011.
Bhatt said attempts were made to revive Raj’s career, but the industry had already shut its doors.
“We tried giving him roles here and there, but once people believe you’re mentally unstable, nobody wants to touch you with a barge pole.”
According to Bhatt, Raj eventually moved to the United States to stay with his brother.
Then, sometime around 2003, he vanished.
The Atlanta Claim
For years, there was no clear trace of Raj. Then came what appeared to be a breakthrough.
During a visit to the US in 2011, Rishi Kapoor contacted Raj’s brother Govind.
“I was relieved when Govind told me Raj was alive. But he was confined to an institution in Atlanta because of health issues,” Rishi told journalist Subhash K Jha.
Rishi also claimed that Raj worked inside the institution and remained financially secure because of investments made during his acting career.
The story made headlines. For a moment, it seemed the missing actor had finally been found.
Then Raj’s daughter spoke.
“He Is Not In Atlanta”
Rishika flatly rejected the claim that her father was living in an Atlanta institution.
“He is not in Atlanta. We have been looking for him for over eight years. We have involved the New York police and hired private detectives to find him. But he’s not been found,” she told Mid-day.
She also pushed back against speculation surrounding his disappearance.
“He was the most loving father. Yes, he suffered from a bit of mental illness before he disappeared. We wanted to deal with this on our own, but those false reports forced me to come out in the open. I think this is totally unfair on my mother.”
The supposed breakthrough had only created another contradiction.
The Taxi Driver Sighting
Around the same time, actor Deepti Naval heard that Raj had allegedly been spotted driving a taxi in New York.
She posted an appeal on Facebook, asking anyone with information to come forward.
The claim travelled quickly. Evidence did not follow.
No photograph emerged. No credible witness was found. Raj remained missing.
Somy Ali’s Promise
Somy Ali, who now runs the US-based NGO No More Tears, says she promised Rishi Kapoor that she would not stop searching for Raj.
“I made a promise to the late Mr Rishi Kapoor that I will make sure that I will never stop looking for the actor, Raj Kiran. I have spent 20 years trying to find him, which included flying to various States paying my own money and at times borrowing it from my mom. So Chintu ji (Rishi Kapoor) could rest in peace and I will have fulfilled my promise. Chintuji and another actress tried to locate him as well, but couldn’t do so.”
Despite years of searches, travel and inquiries, Somy says she has found nothing definitive.
Raj’s daughters have since built lives of their own. Rishika entered the jewellery business and married jewellery designer Ravi Shah. Mannat is also married.
But the central mystery remains untouched.
Did Raj Kiran deliberately leave his old life behind? Did illness drive him into isolation? Was he ever in Atlanta? Was the New York taxi sighting real? Or did something happen to him before any of those claims emerged?
Twenty-three years after his family last saw him, there is still no confirmed sighting and no official closure.
