Shahid Kapur's mother recalled getting a divorce from Pankaj Kapoor and revealed the reason behind it.
Shahid Kapoor hails from a family of artists. His father, Pankaj Kapur, is a veteran actor, whereas his mother, Neelima Azeem, is a renowned dancer and theatre artist. The duo got married in 1979 and welcomed their son, Shahid Kapoor, in 1981. However, when Shahid was just three years old, Neelima and Pankaj separated and got divorced.
In a conversation with Vickey Lalwani, Neelima Azeem spoke about her divorce from Pankaj Kapur and revealed that it was meant to be. The actress also revealed that she separated from Pankaj when Shahid was three, and she too was quite young at that time. She also stated that nobody gets married to part ways, but if something like that happens, then it is pure destiny.
In the same conversation, Neelima also shared that physical distance between her and Pankaj made things difficult. Neelima was based in Delhi, whereas Pankaj moved to Mumbai to pursue his acting career. Elaborating on the same, she said:
“And maybe it was not a good idea at that point in time for him to have taken off to Mumbai without me. He was trying to make ground here, and I was in Delhi. So I think it was years of distancing that made us go our own ways.”
Pankaj Kapur met Neelima Azeem while he was doing theatre at the National School of Drama. Neelima, on the other hand, was a classical dancer who was taking tutelage from Kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj. Neelima debuted as a Kathak dancer and was quite popular in Delhi's circles. Their shared love of art brought Pankaj and Neelima together, and they soon became good friends and got married.
Neelima underwent a traumatic phase during her separation. Everything was good in Neelima’s life till the divorce happened. Talking about facing sorrow, anxiety, and grief, Neelima, in a throwback interview, stated:
“It was the first time when I actually experienced grief, sorrow, rejection, anxiety, pain and fear of the unknown. And a whole lot of insecurity. And also a sense of feeling claustrophobic that I have to stay with my parents now and raise the child on my own and how I am going to be moving towards being the independent girl that I always wanted to be and in many ways was."
What do you think about Neelima Azeem’s take on her divorce from Pankaj Kapur?
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