The husband of Bollywood actress Sridevi, who drowned in a hotel bathtub here, tonight broke his silence to pay a heartbreaking tribute.
Boney Kapoor said he found it difficult to find the right words to describe his pain after India mourned her passing and her funeral took place with thousands turning out to pay their respects in Mumbai.
Mr Kapoor, 62, a film producer, who was married to the star for 21 years, said: ‘Losing a friend and mother of your two young daughters is a loss inexplicable in words.
Sridevi Kapoor, pictured with her husband Boney and their daughters Jhanvi and Khushi, was found dead in a bath in her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel in Dubai
Mourning: Sridevi Kapoor’s husband Boney and daughters Khushi and Janhvi were seen standing by her side before the funeral cortege began in Mumbai
Final journey: Sridevi’s body is seen draped in red, gold and the Indian flag in the open casket up on public display, in this photograph issued by major Indian news agency
He said: ‘…To me she was my love, my friend, mother to our girls, my partner.
‘To our daughters she was their everything…their life. She was the axis around which our family ran.
‘The curtains never come down on an actor’s life because they shone on the silver screen forever.
He added: ‘My only concern at this time is to protect my daughters and find a way to move forward without Sri.
‘She was our life, our strength and the reason we always smiled. We love her beyond measure.’
Mr Kapoor was in her hotel suite on Saturday evening when she failed to emerge from the bathroom. When he forced open the door, she had drowned.
Husband Boney Kapoor, center, stands beside the body of Indian actress Sridevi as the same is carried in a truck during her funeral in Mumbai, India
Goodbye to a legend: Indian fans stand outside a private members club near the Bollywood legend’s Mumbai home where her body was been laid out ahead of her funeral
Fans of Bollywood actress Sridevi hold posters as they wait outside her residence to pay their last respects in Mumbai, India
Long wait: Queues began forming in the early hours of Wednesday after it became known where the Bollywood icon’s body would be laid out
Police have confirmed her death was accidental and sources in Dubai said he had been devastated and was ‘breaking down every ten minutes’ over the four days it took to clear formalities and fly her body back to Mumbai for today’s Hindu funeral service
After countless Bollywood stars and thousands of fans turned out at the funeral in Mumbai, he appealed for privacy.
He said:’ As we bid goodbye to my beloved wife and Kushi and Janhvi’s mama, I have a sincere request. Please respect our need to grieve privately.
‘If you need to talk of Sri, let it be of the special memories that connect each of you to her.
‘She was and is an actor that is irreplaceable. Love and respect her for that.’
His final message to his wife who died while he waited for her to finish a bath and join him for a romantic meal was: ‘Rest in peace my love. Our loves will never be the same again.’
Yesterday, thousands of heartbroken fans lined the streets near the Kapoor family’s house to pay their respects and follow the funeral cortege through Mumbai.
Her body was dressed in her favourite red and golden saree for her final journey and contained in a glass casket.
Police had to ‘lathi charge’ – use their batons – on the growing crowd, said to number more than 7,000, which included people who had travelled hundreds of miles to be there.
Sridevi (far right with husband Boney) had been in Dubai for her nephew Mohit Marwaha’s (third from left) wedding. Daughter Khushi pictured far left
The 54-year-old attended the wedding with her husband and their youngest daughter Khushi (pictured left with her mother, and Sridevi alone, right)
The high-ranking Indian politician who claimed Sridevi was murdered has today refused to back down or say sorry.
Despite police confirming the Indian actress drowned accidentally in her hotel bathtub here, Dr Subramanian Swamy, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was adamant that he had nothing to apologise for.
Sridevi’s widower Boney Kapoor was ‘devastated’ at the ‘hysterical’ and ill-judged theories that followed his wife’s death as he waited in her hotel suite in Dubai last Saturday.
But the Indian MP Dr Swamy admitted his claims of murder were based on ‘inference’ and information from sources within Dubai who he refused to identify.
Dr. Swamy had claimed there may have been links to an underworld criminal who he said had links to ‘cinema actresses’.
Speaking to MailOnline, he said: ‘The problem is that the murder took place in Dubai and there is nothing I can do, than just give an opinion about what I heard from my friends there.
‘I don’t think there is very much I can add. I am an Indian citizen. I cannot be able to devote my time to finding out what happened in Dubai. In India I can do it because I have a network.’
Asked if he had any evidence that the 54-year-old star was murdered as he claimed, he said: ‘No. How can I have evidence?’
Sridevi was filmed dancing with and embracing husband Boney Kapoor during her nephew’s wedding at the weekend, days before she was found dead in her hotel bathtub
He said a ‘variety of facts’ had been given to him such as her time of death and the time she had gone into the bathroom and the circumstances she had been found in which had led him to speak out.
He added: ‘How is it possible for a person of 5ft 7in to get drowned in a bathtub unless someone pushed her down in the water and kept her down below the water level?’
Asked why he continued to press his belief that Sridevi was killed, he said: ‘This is from my work on other murders in India… I just do it by inference that this is not a case of natural death.
‘But beyond that there is nothing I can do because this is all in Dubai and Dubai is not even a democracy.’
Asked if he had any regrets towards the stress his remarks may have caused Mr Kapoor and his daughters, he said: ‘No…I know who they are. I might have run into them in social occasions.
‘My remarks were for public consumption not for the family. But I don’t know whether they are too frightened to speak or not.
‘I have no idea. I will not spend my time. I take hold of a project and I don’t let go to the end. This is not worth my time because it is in a foreign country.’
Told that his statements were out of sync with the official investigators and that he risked offending the Kapoors again, he said: ‘I am saying it is a public person and it is nobody else’s business.
‘This is what I felt. The Dubai police have concluded and they are no paragons of virtue and I do not have to believe what they say.’
Late last night Sridevi’s husband launched a bid for the speculation over his wife’s death to stop and for consideration to be given ti his family.
He said: ‘As we bid goodbye to my beloved wife and Kushi and Janhvi’s mama, I have a sincere request. Please respect our need to grieve privately.
‘If you need to talk of Sri, let it be of the special memories that connect each of you to her.
‘She was and is an actor that is irreplaceable. Love and respect her for that.’
Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapa in the state of Tamil Nadu, Sridevi began acting in south Indian cinema at the age of four.
She then moved into Bollywood, where she rocketed to stardom by way of the 1983 film Himmatwala.
The belle époque of her career was the 1980s and 1990s, during which her releases included the superhero movie Mr India, the separated-at-birth comedy ChaalBaaz, the revenge fantasy Nagina and the romantic triangle drama Tohfa.
Her incredible film career saw her work in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, and in 2013 she was fêted with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest of the civilian honours granted by the Government Of India.
Sridevi was in her heyday a massive box office draw, in addition to which she won five Filmfare Awards, the Hindi movie industry’s answer to the Oscars.
After marrying Boney Kapoor in 1996, Sridevi got another Filmfare nod for her performance in 1997’s Judaai before withdrawing from the movies.
A 15-year big screen hiatus followed, during which she and Boney brought up two daughters – Jhanvi, 20, and Khushi, 17.
The time eventually came when Sridevi itched to return to films, and she launched her comeback with the 2012 hit English Vinglish, which India submitted unsuccessfully to the Oscars.
Her last film release was the 2017 thriller Mom, which was reported to be her 300th motion picture, and of which the Times Of India rhapsodized that ‘Sri demonstrates why she is the high-priestess of desi cinema.’