I was never a big Sridevi fan… Here’s why!

This has been on my mind for some time; basically, ever since Sridevi passed away. I have been seeing people’s post about how sad they were and how they were devastated by her death. I felt none of that. Of course, I was shocked when I woke up to the news on 25th February, but that was mostly because I had been seeing her pictures at Mohit Marwah’s wedding just a day before. She looked all gorgeous and decked up and one could not have imagined that she would be no more in few hours at the most. But the thing that I am trying to say is that, I was not a fan and somehow there wasn’t much respect for her in me almost throughout.

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It is true that I have enjoyed many of her movies like Mr. India, Chaalbaaz, Lamhe, Gumrah and off late English Vinglish, which I totally loved as a movie. I do think that she was a very accomplished actress and celebrated as deserved. She also lived her life on her own terms and I must give her credit for that too. But for me to be a fan of a person, be it an actor or a sportsperson, I think it’s very important for me to relate to their public persona. And one thing I could never relate to are people who get involved with other people who are married. That applies to both men and women. I would not call Sridevi a home breaker because I consider Boney Kapoor equally responsible, if not more, for breaking up his marriage to Mona Kapoor by getting involved with Sridevi. Calling Sridevi a home breaker kind of absolves Boney Kapoor of his responsibility which is wrong. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not the person who believes that a marriage once solemnized should become your whole life’s bondage. A marriage should be happy and should make you a better person. If not, it’s better to call it quits. But, one should give it a proper closure before allowing another person in your life. That is only fair to the one person you had once vowed to stand by in good and bad times. I would have revered Sridevi and Boney Kapoor differently if Boney had first called it quits with his first wife and then gotten involved with Sridevi and if Sridevi would have gotten involved with him only after he ended his first relationship. There are many other examples in the film industry and sports world of such people; Lara Dutta – Mahesh Bhupathi; Shilpa Shetty – Raj Kundra; Aamir Khan – Kiran Rao; Dharmender – Hema Malini; Jennifer Lopez – Ben Affleck; Madonna – Alex Rodriguez; Brad Pitt – Angelina Jolie; and many more. They are all happily married (some are separated again) now but at least one of them was committed to another person when they formed a bond.

While it is easy to say that they had the guts to follow their heart, do give a minute to think about the person who probably trusted them and continued investing in a relationship that was already a lost cause. They deserved better. Their kids deserved better. They deserved a proper closure without the feeling of being deceived. Infidelity, even if it may result in happy legal relationships later, can never earn my respect.