The Nidhi Kapoor Story (23 page)

Naveen had resigned by now. “OK. But no one, not Nidhi, not Nishant, not media should know about our conversation,” he said slowly.

∗∗∗

After Naveen asked his lawyer to leave, Rujuta and Naveen got into Rujuta’s car and were now driving around the city. It was Rujuta’s idea to take Naveen around in a car, for Naveen was reluctant to talk in the police station and there was no other place they could go to for privacy. This also meant that Naveen would be slightly more relaxed while talking.

“Let’s go in my car, but it may not be big for your lavish standards,” she said.

Rujuta had a way of putting people at ease. Naveen made an attempt to smile. “Any car is lavish as long as it
has an air conditioner! A car is a good idea. In a car, I know that you and I are alone and whatever we talk will remain between us.”

They picked a couple of coffees in takeaway containers from the newly opened Starbucks and started talking.

“So what all do you know about Nishant already?” Verma asked.

“Nishant? If you mean his movies, I haven’t seen any, to be honest, but I know that he was amongst the greatest actors of his time. I also know that he came from some royal family in Punjab and his father disapproved of his desire to be an actor. He came to Mumbai against his father’s wishes.”

Rujuta turned the car towards the express highway. It was better to drive on the highway rather than getting stuck in the notorious traffic of Mumbai.

“That’s not bad. So, even though Nishant ran away from the comforts of a rich family, he could not adjust to the life of poverty. When you come into this industry, you need to spend time finding your feet. These years spent chasing these dreams can be harsh. Very few make it through and he was one of those survivors.” Naveen paused to take a greedy gulp at the coffee.

He continued, “He had the looks and was a natural at charming women. He used it to his advantage. When he was just a junior artist, he hardly got any roles but he had trapped a rich woman who afforded him a comfortable lifestyle. As he moved up in life, he used a lot of other women to further his cause. He never had any problems finding rich patrons. He was like a magnet.”

“Wow. That’s nice. I am sure most men would do
anything to be in his position,” Rujuta sneered. She had now crossed the flyover running perpendicular to the Andheri station and had turned left on the Western Expressway. She knew it was going to be a long ride and nothing like a highway to drive on.

Naveen laughed. “Yeah, I guess. You know, to him women were of two kinds. Good looking and very good looking. And he wanted to bed all of them. Maybe that’s what everyone from the erstwhile royal families thought. Didn’t Akbar have a harem of some 1800 wives?”

“Really? What a life would that guy have had? And I wonder, wouldn’t he have died of AIDS or something?” Rujuta replied.

“Oh, AIDS is a very recent disease. It came from Africa because people there were using monkeys instead of women. If we did not have Africa, we would not have AIDS,” Naveen said nonchalantly.

Rujuta was disgusted. “Monkeys! Yuck!” But she did make a mental note that Naveen was far more educated than a typical
filmwallah
. If she did not know about the origin of AIDS, chances were, most other people would not know it either.

Naveen continued, “Anyway, so Nishant was the biggest womanizer that I have known in the industry. Even till today, no one has the appetite for sexual pursuit like Nishant had. It was sort of a legend in the industry. In fact, they said if an actress hasn’t been to Nishant’s bedroom, she hasn’t arrived yet.”

Rujuta was surprised as Naveen’s candid conversation. Nishant Kapoor, despite all his shortcomings, was married
to Naveen’s sister.

He continued, “So when he started doing films, he wasn’t really very good at acting, but he was definitely the most charming of them all. He could have married any woman that he wanted to. However, fate had other plans. He bumped into Neelima at some film party. Neelima had just started working on small roles then and she fell for Nishant’s charm easily. When I got to know about it, I warned my sister against him but they say that love is blind. I realized it then. After a few weeks, she told me that she was pregnant with Nishant’s child. Neelima was twenty-five and unmarried. Initially, Nishant refused to even acknowledge the child and called my sister a whore and what not. I got into this ugly fistfight with him and almost killed him with my bare hands. I should’ve. Our lives would have been so much better if I had the balls to kill him then.”

They had just turned right on the JVLR and were going towards the eastern expressway. These two roads, the eastern and western expressways, led out of Mumbai and gave an outlet to traffic that never seemed to cease.

Rujuta decided to interrupt, “Really? I thought I heard someone telling me that Neelima and Nishant’s wedding the most lavish wedding of the time.”

“Yes, yes, but that happened because we were really persistent. I think something ticked in his head when I told him about the money that my father had left for Neelima and me,” Verma replied.

“So after the wedding,” he continued, “Nishant somehow got Neelima to abort the baby. She almost lost her life in the process. Since her career was anyway ruined after
the wedding, she went into depression. Nishant started to stay away from her. All this happened within the very first year of the wedding. I took my sister to doctors around the country. She even spent some time at our farm at Khandala and when she got better, she came back to Mumbai. By this time, Nishant had moved into Ronak. I was happy as well because my Juhu home was now close to Neelima’s.”

“Yes! Ronak. Did he not get it as a fee for a movie?”

“Bull shit! Nishant was sleeping with the wife of Tabrez Khan, the previous owner of Ronak. He blackmailed him into giving Ronak away and then he used my money to refurbish it.”

“Wow! I don’t believe this! That producer didn’t go to the police or something? Look at the value of Ronak now. I have to give it to Nishant Kapoor to have spotted Ronak back then,” Rujata exclaimed.

Naveen smirked. “Yes maybe. But look at him. He is half dead. Karma eventually catches up with people.”

At the mention of Karma, Rujuta was reminded of her aunt Tarana. Tarana kept talking about Karma all the time and kept telling Rujuta to watch her moves. She was of the opinion that Karma had funny ways of getting back at people.

They just crossed the toll plaza at Airoli. From here, Rujuta turned right to drive around the open expanses of Navi Mumbai.

Naveen, meanwhile, was still talking. “Neelima was still recuperating and Nishant went back to his previous devilish self. He started flirting with other women openly. Sadly, we could not do anything about it. He was married to
Neelu and any scandal would’ve meant disaster.”

“I initially thought that these were occasional rendezvous with various women at hotels, clubs or studios. But I was wrong. He started getting these women home. He even started to live in a separate room, the room where Nidhi has her office now. Where you found the pets? Every now and then, we’d hear giggles from that room. We’d spot women come and go from there at all hours. My sister, the poor thing, would just sit in the lawn till late at night and look at the windows of that room. Hoping that Nishant would someday come back to her. To be honest, I’ve thought about killing him so many times. But I guess the punishment God has given him is harsh enough. I am sure Neelima, wherever she is, is content.”

They were cruising all this while before they got stuck in traffic going towards the Mumbai Pune expressway. Rujuta cursed at the traffic. Naveen however, was oblivious to Rujuta’s rants. He continued talking. “Neelima then thought of an idea to get Nishant back on track. At a party, she announced that she was pregnant with Nishant’s child. Nishant was shocked initially, but eventually he seemed happy about it. Even I was unaware of it. However, Neelima miscarried because of that previous abortion. Nishant was disappointed. Guess he was at that age when you want to bear kids to take your legacy forward.”

Verma had emptied his coffee container long back. He paused to catch his breath, and then said, “Things were tough for a few days and to break the impasse, Nishant decided to adopt a baby. Payal. She gave a new lease of life to Nishant, Neelima and their relationship. Nishant started
to spend more time at home to be with Payal. He reduced his commitments outside Ronak so that he could take Payal out. Slowly, he even started to come back to Neelima. Neelima couldn’t be happier. Payal was what that crumbling house needed. Really. Everyone was happy for a bit.”

“I know. It’s common knowledge that Payal was adopted. But I did not know that she was this important to the marriage!” Rujuta said.

“How could you? There are so many things that happen behind closed doors. But anyway, Payal was two, I think, and Neelima and Nishant conceived again. I don’t know if it was planned or just happened. But this time, they were successful. Nidhi was here. She came with great difficulty. Neelima almost lost her life during the delivery. But when she gave birth to Nidhi, Neelima was on top of the world. She decided to give the two girls everything she had. All was good for a few days, but as they say, blood is thicker than anything else. Neelima liked Nidhi a wee bit more than Payal. And Nishant for some reason liked Payal better than Nidhi.”

They had been driving for almost an hour. Rujuta took a break and parked the car at a restaurant on the highway. She lit a cigarette and even though it was still afternoon, Naveen bought a six-pack.

Naveen resumed talking. “Just when the household was showing signs of settling down in a happy routine, Nishant started it again. For some reason, Nidhi ended up on the receiving end. Nidhi was a kid, a very young kid. Every time she tried to go close to Nishant, he would hurl
abuses at her. Other times, he totally ignored her. He would get gifts, dresses, toys and what not for Payal. And nothing for Nidhi. Neelima could not tolerate Nishant’s behavior towards Nidhi. She tried arguing with Nishant but to no avail. She then decided to take matters in her hands. Like any disgruntled mother, she started treating the two girls differently. I told her that it was wrong and uncalled for, but she was so attached to Nidhi that she was adamant that Nidhi gets the place she deserved in Nishant’s life.”

Verma took a pause to take a swig. “Nishant was no less than Neelima,” he continued, “he did to Nidhi exactly what Neelima would do to Payal. Because of these stupid clashes between Nishant and Neelima, the two girls suffered.

“And then Nishant started to slip again. Faster this time. It was a matter of time. His alcohol, the womanizing, was back. Neelima and Nishant would fight constantly and the two girls would huddle together and see their parents exchange knocks. Surprisingly, all this tension in the house brought the two sisters closer. So close that despite attempts by Neelu and Nishant, they remained inseparable.”

“The household had become a mess. Ronak had these negative vibes. I stopped going there because every time I went there, I was filled with pity and anger over my inability to do anything about the situation. The girls were the only sane part about their household. Nishant’s work started to suffer as well. Newer, younger actors were making it big, and meaty roles were slipping away from him. This is when
Lahu Ka Rang
happened.”

“Yes, the super duper hit
Lahu Ka Rang
. Produced by Roshan Taluja. Who hasn’t heard about that film? It ran
for what… three years at a theatre in Calcutta, no?” Rujuta chipped in.

“Yeah! Another PR stunt by Taluja. It just had one show and they didn’t play the movie half the time. Anyway, with the success of
Lahu Ka Rang
, things seemed to get back to normal. Normal for them meant regular bouts of arguments and heated debates through the day, followed by dinner around a table like a family. Four of them. Thanks to Nidhi and Payal.”

“Really? So then what went wrong?” Rujuta asked. A measured, innocent question to add fuel to fire.

“Success! That went wrong. Nishant could not control his temper and he hit Neelima in a party that had the entire industry in attendance. I was travelling that night or else it would have never happened. I would’ve killed that bastard.”

He took a large slug at the beer can. He stared ahead at the road. His eyes got moist again. Second time in the day.

This time around, Rujuta was sympathetic to him. She had seen some tough times herself but nothing like this hell that Payal and Nidhi had been through.

“I am amazed that Neelima did not tell me about it back then. I guess she was afraid that I’d end up doing something stupid. Damn. You know we live fake lives. Everything we do, we want to do is scrutinized, planned, written like a script.” He opened his next beer.

“So after about a year of this, Neelima died in a fire accident at our Khandala house. Neelima, Payal and Nidhi had gone there to accompany Nishant on a shoot. To this day, I am sure Nishant had something to do with the accident that killed Neelima. But I can’t prove it. I even hired a private
investigator, but he could not do much.”

Rujuta was surprised at this. She had done her research and she could not find anything about a fire that claimed Neelima’s life. Newspapers from back then said that she died of a heart attack. “What? A fire? I thought she died of some heart complication!” Rujuta said.

Naveen sighed. “It was an elaborate stunt we pulled. You know, our lives are elaborate lies. We are public figures. We have an audience, gaping at us 24 x 7. We need to ensure that the public likes us; we need to give them entertainment.”

Rujuta’s mind was racing. She could see a vague picture emerge. Pets, fire, murders, everything seemed to have happened to Nishant Kapoor as well. The incidents of the past few days were merely modern day reenactment of things that had happened years ago. Just that back then, it was Nishant Kapoor who was on the receiving end and this time, it was Nidhi.

Naveen continued to talk. “While Nishant and Payal were stoic at Neelima’s death, Nidhi lost it. For her, her mother was her world. She went into depression and I had to take her to doctors. Just the way I had taken Neelu all those years ago.”