NEW DELHI - Sridevi's husband Boney Kapoor has opened up for the first time about the fateful night of February 24, 2018, to friend and noted film critic Komal Nahta, who has reproduced the conversation in a blog shared on his official Twitter page..
In his blog, Nahta wrote that Boney had told him that how his unscheduled trip to Dubai in 2018 was much-like his unplanned trip to Bangalore in 1994 when he and Sridevi had freshly fallen in love. Sridevi had extended her stay in Dubai post nephew Mohit Marwah's wedding to shop for daughter Janhvi, while Boney had left for India to attend some important event in Lucknow.
On the 24th morning, Sridevi made a call to Boney saying, "Papa( As she used to address Boney) I am 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, " an emotional Boney told Nahta.
Boney reached Dubai on the evening of February 24th around 6:20 pm. An excited Boney requested the bell boy to delay taking his bag to the room as he wanted to catch 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, the blog read.
After a romantic reunion, Boney freshened up and suggested that they go for a romantic dinner.Then Sridevi, who as he says, was in "relaxation mode", went for a bath.
"I went to the living room while Sridevi went to the master bathroom to bathe and get ready," Boney told Nahta.
In the living room, Boney who was engrossed in TV realized that they were getting late for dinner. He called out to her several times but when he got no response, he broke open the door only to find that his worst nightmares have come true.
"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." Nahta quoted Boney.
As Nahta puts it: "Whether she first drowned and then became unconscious, or she first fell asleep or unconscious and then drowned, nobody will, perhaps, ever know. But she probably never got a chance to even struggle for a minute because had she moved her arms and legs in panic while drowning, there would be some water spilling out of the tub. But there wasn't a drop of water on the floor outside the tub area."
Nobody would ever know how Bollywood's first female superstar drowned in a bathtub, the mystery will remain unsolved.