Karisma Kapoor's tumultuous wedding to business tycoon and an eminent Polo player Sunjay Kapur keeps on grabbing headlines after Sunjay died at 53 during a polo match in London on June 12. Director-producer Suneel Darshan, who directed Karisma in films like Jaanwar, Ek Rishtaa, and Mere Jeevan Saathi, recently opened up about the actress's married life during a chat with journalist Vickey Lalwani. He said Karisma was going through an identity crisis in her marriage as she wanted to be a "domesticated type of wife", but ended up being a "trophy" wife.
What's Happening
- Suneel Darshan said Karisma was a friend of Sunjay's sister, but she never showed any romantic interest in her brother.
- "They were friends, they had never been a couple. We went to Delhi several times, we never saw them as a couple. Some things are destined to happen. It was an ugly turn in her life. She wanted to be a domesticated type of wife, but she became a character from a doll's house. She had seen the world, had done everything. She didn't want to be playing golf on a Saturday evening. She wanted to spend time at home, with her family. She was more of a homely girl. It's very sad. I feel for her," he said.
- Asked if she had become a "trophy wife", Suneel said, "I think that's where the problems came from, for the family. That's what she had become. She was placed into a world that was not hers. Delhi has its own culture, and she wasn't fitting into that culture. They lived in a huge, palatial house, with an endless number of cars. She had seen everything, she was Raj Kapoor's granddaughter; fame, success, she was the number one heroine for a duration. When she decided to recede, she wanted to live the life of a wife."
- Karisma's decision to get married to Sunjay was also "abrupt", commented the director.
- He said, "I've known the issue too deeply. Right from the first day, I've known exactly... Karisma and Sunjay's sister were actually best friends from childhood. So, I know the whole story. Some things just need to be buried. I thought that it was an abrupt decision (to get married). Abhishek (Bachchan) and Karisma's falling apart was abrupt, it has something to do with the stars. It was really, really sad, because she was a good girl."
- Suneel also cited the cultural differences between Mumbai and Delhi, and Karisma's struggles to fit into Sunjay's world of opulence caused a rift in their marriage.
Sunjay married Karisma in 2003. The couple became parents to daughter Samaira in 2005 and son Kiaan in 2011. In 2014, Karisma and Sanjay filed for divorce through mutual consent. Their divorce was finalised in 2016. After the separation, Sunjay married Priya Sachdev.
In A Nutshell
Following businessman Sunjay Kapur's death, Karisma and the businessman's troubled marriage grabbed the spotlight. Director Suneel Darshan, who knows Karisma from close quarters, commented on her married life and discussed what went wrong.
