As the mystery around veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi’s sudden demise last week continued, her husband and film producer Boney Kapoor has opened up – perhaps for the first time to a friend – about his unscheduled trip to see his wife in Dubai, how they hugged and kissed when he surprised her and how he found her lying in a bathtub full of water without a drop of water spilling out.
Kapoor has recounted the “detailed account of what exactly transpired on the fateful evening of February 24” to his friend of 30 years, trade analyst Komal Nahta, who has reproduced the conversation in a blog shared on his official Twitter page.
Nahta wrote that Kapoor told him he pushed open the bathroom door 0 which had not been locked from inside – at around 8pm after getting no response to loud calls for Sridevi and a knock on the door. Earlier, there had been a lot of speculation about the time Kapoor had opened the bathroom door.
Nahta told IANS that the conversation happened on Wednesday before Sridevi’s funeral.
It was barely two hours after Kapoor surprised Sridevi at Dubai’s Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel that he faced the shock of her death, writes Nahta.
Kapoor told Nahta: “On morning, I spoke to her. When she told me, ‘Papa (that’s how she addressed him), 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. (Daughter) Janhvi seconded my idea of going to Dubai because she was scared that, her mom, not used to being alone, would misplace her passport or some important document if she was alone.”
According to Kapoor, there had been only two occasions in the last 24 years when they had not travelled together abroad – when Sridevi had gone to New Jersey and Vancouver for two film appearances.
“Although I didn’t accompany her on those two trips, I made sure that my friend’s wife was with her on both occasions. The Dubai stay was the first time Sridevi was alone for two days,” he said.
Kapoor, Sridevi and their younger daughter were in Dubai for a family wedding which wrapped up on February 20. While Kapoor returned to attend an “important meeting” on February 22, Sridevi continued her stay in Dubai to shop for Janhvi and spent two days “relaxing in her hotel room”.
The producer told Nahta that he booked a 3.30pm flight to Dubai on February 24, and reached the hotel where his wife was staying at around 6.20pm Dubai time.
After reaching the hotel where the couple chatted for around 15 minutes, Kapoor freshened up and suggested they go on a “romantic dinner”.
Then Sridevi, who was in “relaxation mode”, went for a bath.
“I went to the living room while Sridevi went to the master bathroom,” Kapoor was quoted by Nahta as having said.
In the living room, Kapoor told Nahta that he was watching the South Africa-India cricket match for a few minutes followed by the Pakistan Super League cricket match highlights. After around 15-20 minutes, he was restless as it was around 8pm then and being a Saturday, he felt restaurants would fill up.
Nahta wrote: “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. 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.”
http://www.gulf-times.com/story/583682/Opened-hotel-bathroom-door-to-find-Sridevi-dead-Bo