Janhvi Kapoor is awaiting the release of her upcoming film ‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’, which stars her opposite Rajkummar Rao. During a recent chat with The Lallantop, the actress mentioned how the sudden loss of her mother and renowned actress Sridevi made her more religious.
Janhvi said, “She believed in things like, ‘certain activities should be done on specific dates,’ ‘don’t cut hair on Fridays as it will prevent Goddess Lakshmi from entering the house,’ and ‘avoid wearing black on Fridays.’ I never believed in such superstitions. However, after she passed away, I started believing in them, maybe even too much. I don’t know if I was this religious and spiritually inclined when she was around. [When she was alive] we all followed these practices because Mamma did. But following her demise, the relationship our culture and history have with Hinduism… I think I started taking refuge in our religion a lot more.”
Recalling her mother’s devotion to Lord Balaji of Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple at Tirumala in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, Janhvi asserted, “She used to invoke his name all the time, ‘Narayan Narayan Narayan.’ She used to visit the temple every year on her birthday when she was working. After her marriage, she stopped going. Following her passing, I decided to visit the temple every year on her birthday. The first time I did, I became very emotional, but I also found great mental peace.”
Mentioning how she is yet to fully come to terms with her mother’s death, Janhvi said, “I don’t think I’ve processed it yet. I talk about her more now because I like remembering her. Initially, I wondered why people kept asking me about the incident. While promoting my first film ‘Dhadak’, not much time had passed since her death, so it was still very fresh in my mind, and I was escaping reality through my work. In that realm, if I was reminded that she was no more, I couldn’t deal with it. There was a lot going on in my head.”
Sharing her coping mechanisms to difficult times in life, Janhvi said, “I don’t think anything can help… I just think that time has passed and you just try to remember the good things. So, whenever I give interviews now, her name will crop up in every second or third sentence that I say: ‘Mamma used to say this…’ or ‘Mamma taught me this…’ I think it makes me feel like… she’s travelling somewhere and she will come back.”
‘Mr & Mrs Mahi’ is slated to hit the theatres on May 31.
