Feature
Boney Kapoor reveals what happened before Sridevi’s death
As the mystery around veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi’s sudden demise last week continued, her husband and film producer Boney Kapoor has opened up – perhaps for the first time to a friend – about his unscheduled trip to see his wife in Dubai, how they hugged and kissed when he surprised her and how he found her lying in a bathtub full of water without a drop of water spilling out.
Kapoor has recounted the “detailed account of what exactly transpired on the fateful evening of February 24” to his friend of 30 years, trade analyst Komal Nahta, who has reproduced the conversation in a blog shared on his official Twitter page.
Nahta wrote that Kapoor told him he pushed open the bathroom door 0 which had not been locked from inside – at around 8pm after getting no response to loud calls for Sridevi and a knock on the door. Earlier, there had been a lot of speculation about the time Kapoor had opened the bathroom door.
Nahta told IANS that the conversation happened on Wednesday before Sridevi’s funeral.
It was barely two hours after Kapoor surprised Sridevi at Dubai’s Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel that he faced the shock of her death, writes Nahta.
Kapoor told Nahta: “On morning, I spoke to her. When she told me, ‘Papa (that’s how she addressed him), I’m missing you’, I also told her that I was missing her a lot. But I didn’t tell her that I would be joining her in Dubai in the evening. (Daughter) Janhvi seconded my idea of going to Dubai because she was scared that, her mom, not used to being alone, would misplace her passport or some important document if she was alone.”
According to Kapoor, there had been only two occasions in the last 24 years when they had not travelled together abroad – when Sridevi had gone to New Jersey and Vancouver for two film appearances.
“Although I didn’t accompany her on those two trips, I made sure that my friend’s wife was with her on both occasions. The Dubai stay was the first time Sridevi was alone for two days,” he said.
Kapoor, Sridevi and their younger daughter were in Dubai for a family wedding which wrapped up on February 20. While Kapoor returned to attend an “important meeting” on February 22, Sridevi continued her stay in Dubai to shop for Janhvi and spent two days “relaxing in her hotel room”.
The producer told Nahta that he booked a 3.30pm flight to Dubai on February 24, and reached the hotel where his wife was staying at around 6.20pm Dubai time.
After reaching the hotel where the couple chatted for around 15 minutes, Kapoor freshened up and suggested they go on a “romantic dinner”.
Then Sridevi, who was in “relaxation mode”, went for a bath.
“I went to the living room while Sridevi went to the master bathroom,” Kapoor was quoted by Nahta as having said.
In the living room, Kapoor told Nahta that he was watching the South Africa-India cricket match for a few minutes followed by the Pakistan Super League cricket match highlights. After around 15-20 minutes, he was restless as it was around 8pm then and being a Saturday, he felt restaurants would fill up.
Nahta wrote: “Boney’s impatience made him shout out to Sridevi from the living room itself. After calling out to her twice, Boney lowered the volume of the TV. Still no reply. He then walked to the bedroom and knocked at the bathroom door and even called out to her. The unsuspecting husband, hearing the tap inside on, then called out ‘Jaan, Jaan’ still louder but got no reply, which was unusual.
“He panicked and opened the door which had not been bolted from inside, nervous but yet not at all prepared for what he was going to see. The tub was full of water and Sridevi was immersed completely, from head to toe, inside the tub. Devastated, he reached out to her but watching her motionless, he feared the worst.
“Sridevi had drowned! Boney’s world had come crashing down.”
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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