- 11 hours ago
In an emotional exclusive conversation with India Today, Celina Jaitly opened up about the unimaginable losses that have shaped her life, from losing her parents and son to coping with her brother's imprisonment.
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00:00When you're a former Miss India, a former Miss Universe runners up, when you've done outstanding comedies like Golmaal Returns,
00:09No Entry, Apna Sapna, Money Money, life's on a high.
00:13You're on a trajectory that's taking you straight up and suddenly all of this becomes a nightmare for you. Golmaal
00:21in your own life. No entry in your own home.
00:26And it's just such a nightmare when all of that starts happening to you and with me on this rollercoaster
00:33called Life is actor Selina Jaitley. Selina, welcome.
00:40Thank you so much.
00:40Life's been quite a rollercoaster for you. I mean, all these films that you've done, the world has laughed at
00:47these great movies.
00:48Did you think this would be a nightmare for you one day? No entry in your own home?
00:52I came from such a positive, uplifting, encouraging military background. I never imagined that this would be my life at
01:03one point of time.
01:04But thank you for the most heartwarming introduction, Gaurav. Wonderful to be here again.
01:10Thank you and it's great to have you. It's great talking to you always and right now we are talking
01:15about Sister Nivedita.
01:17You're a very positive person. I've seen that in you and you're working as you make an entry into the
01:26film industry once again.
01:29You're coming back on a very positive note. Yes, absolutely. I never thought that my comeback would be in such
01:37sort of personal circumstances though.
01:39Because I always thought when you do good work, it's always in the most uplifting and phenomenal times of your
01:46life.
01:47But given my personal circumstances and this comeback for me is not just as an actor doing another film or
01:57coming back to a film.
01:59This is literally a restart of my life of finding hope in darkness, the light at the end of the
02:06tunnel. That's what it is to me. Just like Sister Nivedita was.
02:09So how did this offer come to you? Tell me more about this film that you're doing, Sister Nivedita, because
02:16when we read about her in school textbooks, it was about her meeting Swami Vivekanand, her being inspired.
02:25They met in Ireland or England and then she came to India. Tell us more about the movie and your
02:31character.
02:32So Margaret Elizabeth Noble was her name. She was an Irish educator and that was her true calling. And then
02:40she heard Swami Vivekananda.
02:43And it was in 1898 that she followed him to India and she was given the name Nivedita by Swami
02:52Vivekananda himself.
02:54And she embraced Sanatana Dharma and in one of her letters she writes to a friend called Nell Hammond and
03:02she says,
03:03Oh Nell, oh Nell, India is indeed the land of spiritualism.
03:09And you can see this is this woman in the 18th century. It was practically the Victorian era.
03:16And she came all the way, I don't know, in those days to travel on a ship for a couple
03:21of months,
03:21surrounded by dysentery and cholera and perhaps even plague, any sort of, for a woman in her early thirties to
03:31come alone.
03:32On the following, on the words of this man who moved something inside of her.
03:37And to come to India, not to see what India can give to her, but she made her life journey
03:43about what she can give to India.
03:45And she made it her own spiritual calling. This is where she found her true self, her true purpose.
03:53And that was Sister Nivedita.
03:57So when this offer came to you to do this film, what was your first reaction?
04:03What did you read up on this? And what has that journey been like?
04:08So I was coming together with Ram Kamal Mukherjee, the director, he's a national award-winning director,
04:16and Oritra Das, the producer, for the second time.
04:19We did a film in 2022 called Seasons Greetings, which was one of the most career-wise fulfilling projects of
04:27my entire career journey.
04:28I won my first film fair for that film in 2022. And I only did that film because it was
04:34my mother's last wish that I returned to cinema.
04:38And I thought that was it. And it was at that time that Ram said, I see Nivedita in you.
04:45And I thought, Ram, I mean, I admire. She's too magnanimous of a character for me to embody.
04:55And it would take a lot of me. So I still remember Ram had told me this in the parking
05:00lot in Dubai.
05:03That's where we had met when he was narrating Seasons Greetings to me.
05:06And he said, you know, perhaps you have to break down and rebuild yourself again to play this character.
05:14And perhaps it is sometime in the future when our minds are more calm and the timing is right.
05:20And I just said, yeah, perhaps. But I did not know how true his words were,
05:25because this is exactly the situation in which I am taking the responsibility of, you know,
05:35bringing this magnanimous historical person to life, to people who probably would never know about her until it is through
05:44this film.
05:44It's a massive responsibility for me as an actor, as a performer and as a woman.
05:50Because you've seen a lot of trauma in life personally in this period too.
05:58I mean, you know, you've played roles in films where everyone was laughing.
06:03But beyond that, you've actually cried through a big part of life, losing your parents, losing a child, losing your
06:15marriage and your children.
06:19I mean, and your brother in prison. I mean, it's been a very tough journey for you.
06:26Sometimes I feel I'm living in a script that I did not sign up for. This is what I feel
06:32all the time.
06:33And being a 4G daughter, I think my father inculcated so much strength and courage in me that sometimes I
06:40get angry with him.
06:41And I say, why did you do that? Because there are times when I wake up in the middle of
06:45the night and I think, I can't go on anymore.
06:49I can't do this. This is it. This has to end now. I can't take it anymore.
07:00And then I wake again. And I gather the troops, as they say in the army. And I start all
07:08over again.
07:09And that's my father's training, my brother's training to me.
07:16The idea is not to give up. Because God sends us with some purpose in life.
07:23I don't know till today what my purpose is. But not giving up is the beginning.
07:29Because if someone like me gives up, so many people would not get the right direction in life.
07:36We can't give up because life throws difficulties our way.
07:40We can cry. We can fall apart. We can feel like we cannot go on another moment.
07:47But we must. Because we all have a purpose in life. Maybe we don't find it right now.
07:53Maybe we'll find it tomorrow. But we must not give up.
07:56How did things start going so wrong? I mean, like I said, life was going like this.
08:02And it just kept going up and up and up and suddenly it started crashing down. What happened?
08:08I wish I knew the answers to that. I don't have any answers.
08:11Because it was one blow after another. And by the time I got out of the death of my father,
08:18came along the death of my child. And by the time I got over the death of my child,
08:23came along the death of our mother. And then came along.
08:28I was already in a very difficult marriage. It was not an easy marriage.
08:34Really? Yes. I stuck on because I kept hoping things will get better with time.
08:40There were children involved. There were years involved. There were finances involved.
08:44There were properties involved. And above all, there were ailing parents at that time also.
08:48I could not put them through the trauma of just... There have been times when I've literally walked away from
08:54my marriage,
08:55even in the past, almost two to three times. I've left Singapore and gone to India.
09:01I've left Dubai and gone to India. And it was only after mum and dad passed away.
09:07And that's when I... After Shamshir's passing, baby Shamshir's passing, I think I hit a complete low.
09:15It was grief. When I look back at it, it was grief that blinded me.
09:22I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I was going through.
09:27I just knew I had three small children and I had to somehow make it work for their sake.
09:32They need both their father and their mother. They are children of mixed culture.
09:37They already have a lot of identity crisis. They already face a lot because of the colour of their skin
09:42or the way they look.
09:44Your husband's Austrian. He's Austrian. I'm Indian. And to be a child of mixed race is a...
09:51There are agonies and ecstasies associated with that. They are looked at differently.
09:57It's not easy for them to navigate as mixed ethnicity. How did the two of you meet?
10:03You're a big film star. You're a superstar. And then what happened?
10:08So, at that point, my soon to be former husband was director of marketing in a hotel in Dubai.
10:17And I had gone for a store launch. I was a brand ambassador for a very big brand and I
10:22had gone there.
10:23And I met him through some people whom I literally, aunts and uncles whom I consider to be family.
10:30And they made me meet him. And love happened, I guess. And obviously, you wouldn't surrender your life to a
10:39person if it wasn't for love and trust.
10:43And I didn't marry him because my parents were against this marriage. They were not supportive of this marriage.
10:51They didn't think that we were of the same caliber. And my father did not even attend the Hindu wedding
10:58which took place in Mumbai because of that.
11:01But they came around when the first set of twins were born two years later because obviously seeing their grandchildren
11:07was very elating for them.
11:10And they thought, okay, fine, maybe we were wrong. And I never told them any of the challenges that I
11:16was facing. Initially, I thought probably it is steathing problems. Every marriage has it.
11:21It never stopped. It just became a way of life. And that's the thing about emotional abuse.
11:28You went through emotional abuse? Yes. And that is the thing aboutтАж You went through physical abuse? Yes, I did.
11:34You did? I did. A highly educated young woman, you went through physical abuse in marriage? Yes, I did.
11:39And I think my biggest mistake was not walking out the first time it happened. And this is what I
11:45want to tell every woman listening to me today, that you must walk out.
11:49There is no excuse for any sort of violence, whether it's verbal, whether it's physical. There is no excuse whatsoever.
12:00You must walk away.
12:01It will not get better. It does not get better. It does not get better. It just gets worse. It
12:09may stop for some time. It may come around in a different way.
12:13But it does not get better. Violence is violence. Period.
12:18So, you were married, you had a set of twins, and you were in an abusive relationship. You've invested 15
12:25years in this marriage.
12:26Yes, I have.
12:27Four kids. One, sadly, Shamsher, baby Shamsher passed away. You also moved to Austria.
12:33Yes. And?
12:36And there I was isolated in a small village, around four and a half hours from Vienna. A beautiful village
12:45with wonderful people.
12:46I know, because we used to see pictures. They were lovely. And for me, someoneтАж
12:50Picture postcard wedding. Or life, we would have thought.
12:53I did myтАж Look, I'm a 4G kid, right? You take a 4G kid, you put them anywhere, they will
13:00make the most of it.
13:01They only look at the positives. They lookтАж If things are not good at home, they will look at the
13:06scenery.
13:07The scenery is not good, they will make their house a blessing.
13:11Yeah. This is my upbringing. This is my background, not just one generation.
13:16Four generations runs in my blood. I make the best of life. I try to make the best of every
13:21situation that I am put into.
13:24Then, Covid also happened after moving. Two and a half years was just a horrific lockdown.
13:30What do you do in a lockdown with three small children? Put them in danger by running away? You can't
13:37do that.
13:38Yeah. And then you keep hoping that, you know, no, it's because, you know, he's not working.
13:43My husband didn't work since 2019. At all. He just gave up and he was at home.
13:48And I thought it's probably the frustration which makes things worse of not working, you know, having been working as
13:55a chief marketing officer inтАж
14:00Sorry, the chief commercial officer of a very big construction and hotel brand towards the end in 2018.
14:07I thought probably it's just a frustration. I have to bear it. He's all I have and I have to
14:14make it work for the sake ofтАж
14:16You know, children, any person, and I'm talking about both men and women who stayed in abusive marriages.
14:26Children change the equation massively. You stop thinking about yourself. You stay. You hope. And when you also loveтАж
14:34See, you may be in an abusive relationship, but there's also the aspect of love involved.
14:40You start believing that is love because you constantly keep explaining yourself or answering yourself back that,
14:47No, I've got to make it work. Things will change if I become humbler or I give in more or
14:52I surrender in this way.
14:54I do whatever they want. Things will change. It's for the children. Let them grow up. It's another year. It's
14:59another year.
15:00So you surrendered and then?
15:01I surrendered only to be discarded. Only to be discarded. Only to have everything taken away from me.
15:11Discarded with zero gratitude for a woman who gave up her country, left her parents, gave up her thriving career,
15:21supported the dreams and aspirations of her husband, took care single-handedly of the children all alone
15:27until the time we moved to Austria, of course, where we both took care of the children. There is no
15:34doubt about that.
15:35But I was the primary caregiver and I proudly did that. It wasn't a problem at all. That's all I
15:41wanted. A house full of kids.
15:43And I was trying to make it the ideal house. I was trying to breathe life into that vision which
15:49I held of a family.
15:50The family I grew up in. I have seen the way my father has loved my mother. My grandfather has
15:57respected his wife.
15:59The way I have seen men in my family.
16:03And that didn't happen here.
16:05It did not happen here. I thought maybe if you love them harder, if you give in harder, if you
16:11surrender in every sense of the way,
16:14whether it's transferring your assets to their name or they will love you back. But it never works that way.
16:21You transferred your assets.
16:23I was made to transfer my assets at a time when I was very low. Assets like?
16:27My property is worth 20 crores.
16:32My God.
16:33And I was discarded after, with no access to any of my own money, any of my premarital assets.
16:42Even your premarital assets?
16:44And I'm talking only about my premarital assets. I was an established star when I came into this marriage.
16:53And contrary to what people believe that I married a multimillionaire, no, that is not correct.
16:59When I married my husband, he was a director of marketing in a hotel in Dubai.
17:06He was not the millionaire which the so-called perception, just because an actress has married a person,
17:12people jump to the conclusion that she'll only marry a sportsman, another actor,
17:16or she's marrying a millionaire.
17:19No, that is not correct.
17:21I married for love. I married for personality, what I thought was shown to me at that point.
17:29I married for having a marriage that I saw between my nana and nani and my papa and my mama.
17:34I married for that. I married to have a home. I had been working since the age of 14 and
17:39a half.
17:41I had done it all. I was desperately seeking the comfort of family,
17:46the security of having a husband and kids and a house full of kids and love.
17:54And beginning my own, what do you say, having my own environment.
18:01And then 15 years of your marriage, the amount you invested in it, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, what
18:12happened?
18:12I was discarded.
18:14But love?
18:15With one divorce notice, the hearing of which took place around our 15th wedding anniversary,
18:22I was told suddenly that there is a gift for you which has been ordered for our 15th wedding anniversary.
18:30And I was driven to the post office by my husband saying that you need to bring your ID card
18:36to receive the gift.
18:37So I said, what? ID card for what? And we live in a very small village where everybody knows everybody.
18:43This was never the case before. If anything comes, everybody knows everybody.
18:47So nobody really asks you to come with it.
18:49And he says, no, but you have to come with your ID card.
18:51So I went there and when we reached there, my husband said, go on inside and get the gift.
19:02So I said, listen, my German is not so good. If the post lady starts talking to me about the
19:07family and all in a high German,
19:09you know, I'll get really panicked and you please come with me.
19:13You see, I'm still so dependent on you. I can't even get a gift without my husband.
19:18These are the words I actually said outside the post office to my husband.
19:25And I went inside and I asked the lady, have a packet for me?
19:31I mean, I asked her in German, do you have a gift, a packet for me?
19:36So she says, brief means letter.
19:41And I was given a letter and there was something, my German is not so good.
19:45So I read something called the word on it and I confused it from the word translation of municipality.
19:54So Austria, they are very good. They have a very good system there.
19:58They take care of women and children and there are always AIDS and projects coming up for women and children.
20:03And I thought either it has something to do with that.
20:06It's a letter from the municipality or it is something to do with my residence status.
20:11So maybe I have to renew or report for something like that.
20:15So I even asked my husband that I think this is from the municipality.
20:19Why are they writing a letter to me?
20:21You think they send me some money? I just said like that as a joke.
20:25So he says, you got to check it out.
20:28And then he dropped me below the hill where our house is.
20:31And I climbed up and my twins, the older twins were at home.
20:34They were doing their homework.
20:36And I said, Bitta, can you please read this for me?
20:38Seems to be very hi-fi German.
20:40I'm not going to spend half an hour translating it.
20:42So they said, yeah, sure, Mama, we can read it for you.
20:45And my twins read, had to read that terrible divorce notice in which there were all sorts of weird allegations
20:52on me.
20:53And I was being divorced for not being enough for irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and not being enough for
20:59my husband's needs and weird stuff like that.
21:03And I was like, I couldn't believe it. I thought it was some sort of a joke.
21:09And where was your husband that time?
21:11He dropped me below the house, the hill.
21:15Our youngest was playing football.
21:17And he said, he's going to, he's all alone on the football field.
21:20I have to go to him.
21:21So can you hike up to the house?
21:23I said, yeah, yeah, sure.
21:24No problem.
21:25It's normal.
21:26Our children always came first and whatever it is.
21:29And I said, Tika, no problem.
21:32So this is how on the cusp of our 15th wedding anniversary, on pretext of receiving a wedding anniversary gift,
21:41the divorce notice was served to me.
21:44After the first hearing, the judge said, I give you until November to amicably separate.
21:50I did not even know how I'm going to do it.
21:53The lawyers, I didn't have any money, like literally very minimal money in my bank account.
21:58I was like in a nightmare.
22:00And I said, Tika, because I was in an abusive marriage at some level, I felt it was strange,
22:08but it was some sort of a relief.
22:10But I thought we would always remain connected for, I did not see the deceit yet.
22:17It is after the judge said that I want you to take out both of you to amicably separate in
22:24the best interest of the children.
22:26I said, Tika, I say ho jayenge separate.
22:28We'll separate like that.
22:29No problem.
22:30Immediately an amicable separation request was sent to my husband's lawyers that I don't want anything from you.
22:38I just want my assets back.
22:40I want my money back, whatever I've invested.
22:44Okay.
22:45And allow, let us both of us keep joint custody of the kids and remain friends.
22:49We've been married for 15 years.
22:51You don't just end it overnight.
22:53And a response was received.
22:55We are busy proving Mumbai property is ours.
22:58Your property is his.
23:00His.
23:01Okay.
23:01Right now.
23:02What you bought before marriage.
23:03Yeah.
23:04And if you think you can return, she can return to India after the divorce, then she's sadly mistaken and
23:11not thinking in the best interest of the children.
23:15I was taken aback.
23:17I was taken aback.
23:17I was like, oh shit.
23:18This is, I went to my husband and I said, look, at the end of the day, the lawyers are
23:24going to do whatever we ask them to do.
23:26Why spend all this money?
23:27You're holding me responsible for the breakdown of the marriage.
23:31I'm not going to tell the court anything right now because I just want to separate amicably in best interest
23:37of our children.
23:38Because they need both mom and dad in their life.
23:41They need the father and they need the mother.
23:43Okay.
23:44I just need, because anyway, my husband was staying separately since 2020.
23:48He was not staying in the same room as me.
23:52This was also a part of the control and isolation that I was going through.
23:56He was living separately on the topmost floor of the house.
23:59And I was living in the middle floor of the house with my children.
24:03So I said, I'd like to continue living on the middle floor of the house.
24:07I'll keep doing back and forth because now I have to start working again.
24:10Give me time till I establish myself again.
24:12And then I will take the children with me or we can decide what is in their best interest.
24:18And I was told, speak to my lawyer.
24:22And I was just given some vague response, came back to my lawyer.
24:26We're busy proving Mumbai property is ours.
24:28And if she thinks she can go back to India, she's not thinking in the best interest of her children.
24:32So I went to him in the house and I said, where should I go?
24:37Because 15 years, my parents are gone.
24:41What should I do in this small village in the back and beyond of Austria?
24:45After you have left me, where do I go?
24:48What do I do?
24:50There is nothing to stay back for except the kids.
24:53So allow me to work.
24:55Give me the dignity and respect of working.
24:58And then I was told that, find a job here if you want to have access to the children.
25:04I said, what work am I going to do?
25:07And I was told, I'll get you a job as a cleaner in the supermarket.
25:11We don't look down upon jobs like this, like you all do in India.
25:16Not that anybody looks down upon any job, but you can do so much better.
25:19But everybody has their merits and everybody should work according to their merits, I feel.
25:24I don't look down upon any job.
25:26True.
25:26So I said, then why are you sitting at home since 2019 and not doing any work?
25:33Then perhaps you should have taken the initiative.
25:35And I think I'm a little more capable than the job you're offering me to do,
25:41even after giving me a divorce and wanting to keep me under your control.
25:48And that is it.
25:50That's when I realized, that's when things started going south with my brother's case.
25:55I just didn't know which tragedy to focus upon.
26:00I didn't know either.
26:01Yeah, this.
26:03And then I found out that efforts were being made to dispose of my own assets in India.
26:09They were being put up in the market for sale.
26:12And I was like, I'm going to be left penniless.
26:16I'm going to be left without anything.
26:19And in interest of my brother's life, in interest of whatever little I could salvage
26:25for the sake of my children, to be able to give them a safe and secure life,
26:29I had to come in the middle of the night from Austria with the help of my neighbors.
26:38Your neighbors helped?
26:40My neighbors are a 70-year-old couple.
26:43They were the only people who knew something was wrong.
26:45They knew everything.
26:46I started telling them because I wasn't allowed to meet anyone.
26:50I wasn't allowed to have people home.
26:52There were very strict rules and regulations in my house.
26:55We never met any other couples, ever.
26:58It was justтАж
26:59Through 15 years?
27:00No.
27:01In the 15 years, yes, perhaps one or two times in Dubai and Singapore.
27:05But after moving to Austria, it was complete isolation.
27:09Complete isolation.
27:10Before that, we still had some life.
27:13ButтАж
27:14You're a strong, financially independent, educated girl from such a glorious military tradition.
27:22Why would you sign away your assets to anybody else?
27:25Why would you lose your financial independence?
27:28There is trust in a long marriage.
27:31Children come in, they change the equation.
27:33And then you lose your parents, your only anchors in your life.
27:37I was suffering from massive grief and postnatal depression when I was made to do all these things.
27:48And you never think of all people.
27:52In India, it's very common, you know, half the things are in the wife's name only.
27:57For example, when a husband buys something, he puts everything on the wife's name.
28:00Or husband says to the wife,
28:04You sign it, right?
28:05So, I am being led by the examples set by my parents.
28:11I didn't see anyтАж
28:12And after so many years of marriageтАж
28:13There's so much trust.
28:14There is trust.
28:15Children come in, there is some trust.
28:17And my mind was not in its right place.
28:19I was getting treatment at that time.
28:20I was on medication.
28:22And I was on treatment at that time when, in 2019, all these things wereтАж
28:27I was made to do all of these things.
28:28At least till 2019, I had my assets in my name.
28:33I was financially supporting.
28:36But then, even my assets were gone from my name.
28:40Yeah.
28:41And then, you know, youтАж
28:44Then you become dependent, that now, how do I fight?
28:46I have nothing to my name anymore.
28:48I don't have parents to go back to.
28:50I don't know, if I tell my brother, he'll probably come and shoot him.
28:55KnowingтАж
28:56KnowingтАж
28:58VikrantтАж
28:58Special forcesтАж
29:00SeriouslyтАж
29:01Yeah.
29:01SoтАж
29:03I justтАж
29:05It justтАж
29:05Kept getting darker and darker.
29:08And I kept hoping thatтАж
29:09Perhaps once he gets back into workingтАж
29:12He will be in a better situation.
29:15And this extreme end of controlтАж
29:18AndтАж
29:19Both financial and otherwiseтАж
29:22SocialтАж
29:22Would go.
29:24So, I keptтАж
29:25ThenтАж
29:26CovidтАж
29:26You knowтАж
29:27And the hotel industry went down.
29:29AndтАж
29:29He couldn'tтАж
29:30Find a job.
29:32And thenтАж
29:33Then I saw he's not making any efforts.
29:35And then, in 2025, I found out that he isтАж
29:38Sold off our asset in Austria.
29:41Without my knowledge.
29:43AndтАж
29:43There was a small altercationтАж
29:45On the 22nd of June, I thinkтАж
29:47WhereтАж
29:48I really broke down.
29:49I saidтАж
29:50I've been askingтАж
29:51For moneyтАж
29:52From my own rental income.
29:54So thatтАж
29:54I can goтАж
29:55And hire a lawyerтАж
29:57For my brother.
29:57I can go and meetтАж
29:59The embassyтАж
30:00Of IndiaтАж
30:00InтАж
30:02I can do somethingтАж
30:04To look for my brotherтАж
30:05Because I didn't know where he wasтАж
30:07At that time.
30:07AndтАж
30:08You didn'tтАж
30:09You're sittingтАж
30:09You have sold off our assets.
30:11You're sitting on millions of euros.
30:12And not willing to give meтАж
30:13Millions of euros.
30:15тАжmy ownтАж
30:15Own money.
30:18ToтАж
30:19To help my own brother.
30:22AndтАж
30:23That nightтАж
30:23And based on this fightтАж
30:25This fight was used toтАж
30:26Serve a divorce notice to me.
30:28And it's mentioned in the first divorce notice.
30:31Which isтАж
30:32Hardly a fight.
30:33BecauseтАж
30:35I think it wasтАж
30:38That was it for me.
30:40That was it.
30:41I thinkтАж
30:42EverythingтАж
30:43After that has beenтАж
30:45In complete darkness.
30:46IтАж
30:47Didn't even think I canтАж
30:48Ever find myтАж
30:49There were times when I thoughtтАж
30:50That my life has ended.
30:51I just cannot go on anymore.
30:53I just can't go on anymore.
30:55Because when I came to IndiaтАж
30:59I was still in contact with my children.
31:02The moment the cases wereтАж
31:03Lodged in India.
31:04For the protection ofтАж
31:05Reversal of the gift deeds.
31:07And protection of my assets.
31:10AndтАж
31:10AndтАж
31:11I had to stand up for my right.
31:15And all the cases were filed in India.
31:17AllтАж
31:17Communication with my childrenтАж
31:19Was stopped.
31:20And despite having a subsisting order of theтАж
31:22Austrian courtsтАж
31:24I was still not allowed.
31:25And my children were made to say no to me.
31:28OnтАж
31:28Bizarre excuses thatтАж
31:31You have to sayтАж
31:33ThatтАж
31:33You knowтАж
31:34Mummy tried to send us a ticket to run away from Austria.
31:37And all sorts of vague things.
31:39AndтАж
31:39Then I lost all contact with my children.
31:42And thenтАж
31:43This time when I went back for the court hearingтАж
31:45My children were removed from the marital home.
31:48Oh.
31:48Yes.
31:50AndтАж
31:50I was not allowed to see them.
31:53At all.
31:54I stayed there waiting every day.
31:57HopingтАж
31:57Today they'll come back.
31:58Because he took an undertaking in front of the Austrian courtsтАж
32:01That he would bring the children back.
32:02But he didn't.
32:04Suddenly things were being said against me.
32:06They are afraid of their mother.
32:08The children for whom the mother has done everythingтАж
32:10Since the day they are born.
32:12Now suddenly are afraid of the mother.
32:15Mother is abusive.
32:17A mother who has given her body, her soul, everything.
32:22The children who were sleeping with her in the room.
32:25It was the most difficult night of my life.
32:28Leaving my three sleeping children and coming back to India.
32:33It has broken me in ways.
32:35Gaurav I can't even tell you.
32:36BecauseтАж
32:37I think that was the most traumatic day of my life.
32:42Leaving my children.
32:44And it remains.
32:46It is very traumatic to see what thoseтАж
32:49Even think what those three boys are going through.
32:52Being told to say things against their mother in the court.
32:55And I am confident.
32:58I can fight each and every allegation.
33:00With proof.
33:01With witnesses from my village standing right next to me.
33:05I will fight this.
33:07I am a 4G's daughter.
33:08God you have challenged a mother.
33:10And I willтАж
33:11All for my premarital assets.
33:13When we could have separated amicably.
33:16I continuously offered amicable separation.
33:18I will keep quiet.
33:19I will not say anything about all that you put me through.
33:22Just sayтАж
33:23Let's say a line for the children.
33:24Yeah.
33:25And itтАж
33:26It did notтАж
33:27It did not happen.
33:29AndтАж
33:30NowтАж
33:31I guessтАж
33:32The children are suffering the most.
33:34I had to get an injunction to enter my own house.
33:37Which I bought with my own money.
33:40You do this to a wife for 15 years.
33:43This is what you do to a wife for 15 years.
33:47You leave her with no dignity.
33:51What is that?
33:52You don't leave her with no dignity.
33:54Come on.
33:56True.
34:01AndтАж
34:04I thinkтАж
34:06Being an artist is my only refuge in findingтАж
34:10Connect back to life again.
34:12Because rest everything is gone.
34:15That's why thisтАж
34:16This film that you're doing, Sister Nivedita, is actually aboutтАж
34:20Finding that inner strength in you.
34:23Yes.
34:23Is thatтАж
34:24Is that a hope that you have?
34:27Do you connect with Sister Nivedita?
34:30Emotionally?
34:34There isтАж
34:35I can absolutely not compare myself with her phenomenal legacy.
34:40And her sacrifices in any way.
34:42But what I do know is, Gaurav, thatтАж
34:47I had to also rebuild myself overnight with what life threw my way.
34:54AndтАж
34:56Just like her, after so many years in Europe, I arrivedтАж
35:02Not to find comfort, but to rebuild myself.
35:06To find my purpose.
35:09AndтАж
35:10That's what she did.
35:12She wasтАж
35:14Margaret Elizabeth Noble was an educator.
35:17Her main calling was that of an educator.
35:20She was an Irish woman.
35:24AndтАж
35:25ChangedтАж
35:28The very person that she was to find her true calling.
35:32And she came to India.
35:34And she was smitten.
35:36She turned to Sanatana Dharma.
35:40And I cameтАж
35:41And believe me, when I came back to India, neither did I have my own house to enter.
35:46I stayed in a hotel for 10 days.
35:49A hotel owned by a friend whom I asked to give me a discount.
35:53And I stayed till I could go to the court and get an injunction to enter my own house.
35:58I couldn't enter my own house.
36:01AndтАж
36:01With no parentsтАж
36:03And my brotherтАж
36:04Not there.
36:05I found comfortтАж
36:08In those one or two friendsтАж
36:11Remaining.
36:11And I would sayтАж
36:13My director, Ram Kamal Mukherj.
36:16My producer, Oritro.
36:19A well-wisher called Gautam Ji.
36:23AndтАж
36:24My father's colleagues.
36:26Colonel Sharma, his wife.
36:28And above all, Preeti Zinta.
36:31That woman stood like a rock.
36:35She's the only one who understood how broken I was.
36:40And it's thanks to her I startedтАж
36:42I went to Maa Bagla Mukhi Temple in Dharamsala.
36:46I went to Ujjain through some very good friends.
36:49Family friends.
36:52Tony Bhatia and all that.
36:54AndтАж
36:54When I went there to Ujjain,
36:56That's when I realizedтАж
36:58Returning back to my dharma.
37:01To my sanatana dharma.
37:02To my roots.
37:03Is my true calling.
37:05And that is what Sister Nibidita was.
37:07She found her spiritual soul country when she returned to India.
37:13And I found that too when I returned to India.
37:16That thing that was missing in me for so many years.
37:19Yeah.
37:20That always gives you strength.
37:21There's no denying that fact.
37:22Sanatana dharma always gives you immense, immense strength.
37:25And you will continue to fight for justice for what is rightfully yours.
37:29Access to your children?
37:31Absolutely.
37:32Access to my children.
37:33I have the right.
37:36AndтАж
37:37Access to my own assets.
37:39Premarital assets.
37:41Full, unobstructed access to my children.
37:44And my own assets.
37:46And what is rightfully mine.
37:48From my own investments.
37:50That's it.
37:51I don't ask for anything else.
37:54Yeah.
37:55I'm asking for what is rightfully mine.
37:57I'm fighting for my right now.
37:59You're again fighting on multiple fronts.
38:01You're still fighting for your brother.
38:03Access to your brother.
38:04Yes.
38:05That's another fight that's still on?
38:07Absolutely.
38:09You're hoping something positive will emerge on that front?
38:12I have full faith in the government of India.
38:14And the MEA.
38:15That they are doing their best to support Major Vikrant in whatever way they can.
38:21Vikrant's wife had opposed the appointment of further to the High Court orders.
38:27I had tried to appoint a legal firm for Vikrant's representation.
38:31And his wife had opposed the same.
38:33I hope now it's going to be two years since Vikrant is in detention.
38:38I hope she will appoint legal aid for him.
38:43And are you hopeful of justice in Austria to get back what is rightfully yours?
38:48Absolutely.
38:49I have full faith in the Austrian system.
38:51I have full faith in the Indian system.
38:54And I have full faith in my truth.
39:00Because there is no more bowing down to break yourself.
39:07Because loving someone harder is not going to change them.
39:11It's not going to change the reality of how they feel.
39:16That is true.
39:17You cannot change people's intentions by loving them harder.
39:23It doesn't work that way.
39:24That's only in films that I act in.
39:28Absolutely.
39:29And the films that you do will also now send across that very strong message that girls have to be
39:35strong at all times.
39:36Absolutely.
39:37And financially independent and full control of their financial assets.
39:40I would recommend to girls, please do a prenup.
39:43If you have assets of your own, please do a prenup before marrying.
39:47Keep your assets separate always.
39:50Always.
39:51Because you know, it boils down to assets.
39:54All the love, all the care, all the promises of togetherness, the children, the deaths, the births, everything boil down
40:07to an asset at the end of the day.
40:09And that is what is my biggest heartache.
40:14I hope you get access to your children and I hope you find true purpose that you are finding.
40:19Wish you all the best with Sister Nivedita.
40:21Thank you so much.
40:21As always, Selena.
40:22Many thanks for joining me here on India today.
40:24Thank you so much.
40:27That's a very important lesson for everyone in life.
40:31Be in total control of your life, assets that you've created and above all, ensure that nobody ever messes around
40:40with your self-respect.
40:42And of course, when you find reason in life, it is Tamsoma Jyotir Gamaya, moving from darkness unto light.
40:50Many thanks for watching.
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