Mona Kapoor Too soon, my friend [TFSJ Article]

Bharathi S Pradhan, the Editor of the popular magazine has a heartfelt note on Mona Kapoor. It was so heart touching, I had to share. This gives an insight into how beautiful and strong a lady Mona was. It also answers some of the questions we have all been asking. The post follows.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was detected last April and before the calendar turned to the same month again, Boney Kapoor’s wife Mona Kapoor passed away on March 25. Even morphine patches couldn’t make it easier for her in her last few days.

But what brought relief to Mona in that condition was the thunderous response to the 1st promo of her son Arjun Kapoor’s debut film Ishaqzaade. He is already a star to be stalked and marked.
Two years ago, Sonakshi Sinha had become an instant star with just one landmark promo and one well-delivered line, “Thappad se dar nahin lagta saab, pyaar se dar lagta hai.” The blockbuster status of Dabangg had reinforced that stardom.

It’s happening again with Arjun Kapoor whose promo and punchline are getting repeated hits. Check out his promo of Ishaqzaade on YouTube. His mom Mona had wanted to survive long enough to just see that debut film of his.

Arjun Kapoor Poignant debut in May

For nearly 15 years, she had valiantly taken the blow of watching her husband Boney slip away and make a new family with another woman. She had gathered her dignity, made a success of her film studio and built a beautiful home for herself and her two kids, Arjun and Anshula (a brilliant student who will be graduating from Columbia this summer). She had put her life together and made so many wonderful friends that when she fell seriously ill, nobody believed that Mona Kapoor would succumb to this new crisis in her life.

On Feb 2 this year, when a thoughtful Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar put together a party at their beautiful Juhu apartment to bring in Mona Kapoor’s birthday, the variety of guests who trooped in ranged from filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar, Indra Kumar and Ramesh Taurani, art director Bijon Dasgupta and Priyanka Chopra’s parents to actors, writers, singers and dress designers.

Watching Anup Jalota (who came with his ailing wife Medha) pull out his harmonium and sing ‘Happy birthday’ to Mona, Shabana had whispered with admiration, “Every person that I invited to this party said ‘yes’, not one single person turned it down. I’m amazed at her immense goodwill and the number of people who care so much for Mona.”

Mona Kapoor Too soon, my friend

She cared too, for each and every one in the room. When Shabana herself was awarded the Padma Bhushan this year and all her close friends had thrown celebratory dinners and lunches, the still-to-heal Mona had partied heartily with all of them. It didn’t matter that she was going home exhausted after every social outing.

Even as the inimical cells hit her insides, Mona flew to Lucknow braving the biting winter winds with a shawl, to watch her son Arjun Kapoor shoot for Ishaqzaade for Yashraj Films. The trip had given Mona a contentment that had long eluded her. When her son couldn’t be launched by his filmmaker-father Boney Kapoor, it had broken Mona’s heart, it was an anxiety that had eaten her up for a while. It was a big consolation that she lived to see Arjun audition and bag a dream launch by a banner as big as Yashraj and see his promo too. If only she could have lived on just that much longer and watched him grow into a big household name.

As soon as Mona passed away, there were comparisons drawn between her and actress Nargis who had also succumbed to cancer days before the release of her only son Sanjay Dutt’s debut film Rocky.

But Nargis had husband Sunil Dutt by her side all through, moving heaven and earth to get the best for his wife while Mona had lost her husband to another woman. Paradoxically, Mona got him back in her death. She went as Mrs Boney Kapoor with her husband (and kids) performing her last rites exemplarily.

This is not a judgmental piece on Boney, Sri or anybody else but a heartfelt farewell to a woman whose silent dignity was admired by us from very close quarters. She deserved to see her son Arjun Kapoor’s debut on the big screen, she deserved to fly out to USA to watch Anshula’s graduation ceremony. That these twin delights were denied to her cannot be blamed on anybody. RIP Mona