Sridevi‘s sudden death is still hard to process for her fans, one can only imagine what her family must be going through during these troubled times. In an exclusive blog by trade analyst and journalist Komal Nahata, Sridevi’s husband Boney Kapoor spoke at length about their relationship, his penchant for surprising her and the horrible course of events that happened on the night of February 24th.
Excerpts from his blog –
On planning a surprise for this wife –
On 24th morning, I spoke to her,” recalled an emotional Boney, “when she told me, ‘Papa (that’s how she addressed Boney), I’m missing you.’ I also told her that I was missing her a lot. But I didn’t tell her that I would be joining her in Dubai in the evening. Janhvi had seconded my idea of going to Dubai because she was scared, her mom, not used to being alone, would misplace her passport or some important document if she was alone.
Boney recounted that there had been only two occasions in the last 24 years when they had not travelled together abroad – when Sridevi had travelled alone on two brief foreign trips – one to New Jersey and the other to Vancouver – for two appearances. “Although I didn’t accompany her on those two trips, I made sure that my friend’s wife was with her on both the occasions,” explained the caring and protective husband as he tried to fight back tears. “The Dubai stay was the first time Sridevi was alone for two days – 22nd and 23rd – in a foreign land,” he sighed.
In order to surprise her, he told Sridevi he’d be busy for a few hours so his phone might be unreachable as he boarded a plane to fly to Dubai –
The plan was to surprise her in her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel. Boney reached the Dubai hotel at around 6.20 p.m., Dubai time, soon after landing in Dubai. While he was doing his check-in formalities at the hotel and taking a duplicate key to Sridevi’s room, he asked the bell boy to delay taking his bag to the room as he was too excited about catching her by complete surprise. The two hugged like teenage lovers once Boney opened the door with his duplicate key. “But she told me, she had a hunch that I would come to Dubai to fetch her,” Boney recalled amidst sobs. The couple hugged, kissed and chatted for almost half an hour.
They planned to postpone the shopping for a day and go for a romantic dinner instead. While Sridevi went in to get ready, Boney was watching sports –
He watched the match for around 15-20 minutes but was beginning to get restless thereafter because he was aware that being a Saturday, there would be a rush in the restaurants. It was around 8 p.m. then. Boney’s impatience made him shout out to Sridevi from the living room itself. After calling out to her twice, Boney lowered the volume of the TV set. Still no reply. He then walked to the bedroom and knocked at the bathroom door and even called out to her. The unsuspecting husband, hearing the tap inside on, then called out “Jaan, Jaan” still louder but got no reply, which was unusual. He panicked and opened the door which had not been bolted from inside, nervous but yet not at all prepared for what he was going to see. The tub was full of water and Sridevi was immersed completely, from head to toe, inside the tub. Devastated, he reached out to her but watching her motionless, he feared the worst. Sridevi had drowned! Boney’s world had come crashing down.
You can read the entire article here.