The Nidhi Kapoor Story Read online

  “Wow. That’s nice. I am sure most men would do anything to be in his position,” Rujuta sneered. She had now crossed the flyover running perpendicular to the Andheri station and had turned left on the Western Expressway. She knew it was going to be a long ride and nothing like a highway to drive on.

  Naveen laughed. “Yeah, I guess. You know, to him women were of two kinds. Good looking and very good looking. And he wanted to bed all of them. Maybe that’s what everyone from the erstwhile royal families thought. Didn’t Akbar have a harem of some 1800 wives?”

  “Really? What a life would that guy have had? And I wonder, wouldn’t he have died of AIDS or something?” Rujuta replied.

  “Oh, AIDS is a very recent disease. It came from Africa because people there were using monkeys instead of women. If we did not have Africa, we would not have AIDS,” Naveen said nonchalantly.

  Rujuta was disgusted. “Monkeys! Yuck!” But she did make a mental note that Naveen was far more educated than a typical filmwallah. If she did not know about the origin of AIDS, chances were, most other people would not know it either.

  Naveen continued, “Anyway, so Nishant was the biggest womanizer that I have known in the industry. Even till today, no one has the appetite for sexual pursuit like Nishant had. It was sort of a legend in the industry. In fact, they said if an actress hasn’t been to Nishant’s bedroom, she hasn’t arrived yet.”

  Rujuta was surprised as Naveen’s candid conversation. Nishant Kapoor, despite all his shortcomings, was married to Naveen’s sister.

  He continued, “So when he started doing films, he wasn’t really very good at acting, but he was definitely the most charming of them all. He could have married any woman that he wanted to. However, fate had other plans. He bumped into Neelima at some film party. Neelima had just started working on small roles then and she fell for Nishant’s charm easily. When I got to know about it, I warned my sister against him but they say that love is blind. I realized it then. After a few weeks, she told me that she was pregnant with Nishant’s child. Neelima was twenty-five and unmarried. Initially, Nishant refused to even acknowledge the child and called my sister a whore and what not. I got into this ugly fistfight with him and almost killed him with my bare hands. I should’ve. Our lives would have been so much better if I had the balls to kill him then.”

  They had just turned right on the JVLR and were going towards the eastern expressway. These two roads, the eastern and western expressways, led out of Mumbai and gave an outlet to traffic that never seemed to cease.

  Rujuta decided to interrupt, “Really? I thought I heard someone telling me that Neelima and Nishant’s wedding the most lavish wedding of the time.”

  “Yes, yes, but that happened because we were really persistent. I think something ticked in his head when I told him about the money that my father had left for Neelima and me,” Verma replied.

  “So after the wedding,” he continued, “Nishant somehow got Neelima to abort the baby. She almost lost her life in the process. Since her career was anyway ruined after the wedding, she went into depression. Nishant started to stay away from her. All this happened within the very first year of the wedding. I took my sister to doctors around the country. She even spent some time at our farm at Khandala and when she got better, she came back to Mumbai. By this time, Nishant had moved into Ronak. I was happy as well because my Juhu home was now close to Neelima’s.”

  “Yes! Ronak. Did he not get it as a fee for a movie?”

  “Bull shit! Nishant was sleeping with the wife of Tabrez Khan, the previous owner of Ronak. He blackmailed him into giving Ronak away and then he used my money to refurbish it.”

  “Wow! I don’t believe this! That producer didn’t go to the police or something? Look at the value of Ronak now. I have to give it to Nishant Kapoor to have spotted Ronak back then,” Rujata exclaimed.

  Naveen smirked. “Yes maybe. But look at him. He is half dead. Karma eventually catches up with people.”

  At the mention of Karma, Rujuta was reminded of her aunt Tarana. Tarana kept talking about Karma all the time and kept telling Rujuta to watch her moves. She was of the opinion that Karma had funny ways of getting back at people.

  They just crossed the toll plaza at Airoli. From here, Rujuta turned right to drive around the open expanses of Navi Mumbai.

  Naveen, meanwhile, was still talking. “Neelima was still recuperating and Nishant went back to his previous devilish self. He started flirting with other women openly. Sadly, we could not do anything about it. He was married to Neelu and any scandal would’ve meant disaster.”

  “I initially thought that these were occasional rendezvous with various women at hotels, clubs or studios. But I was wrong. He started getting these women home. He even started to live in a separate room, the room where Nidhi has her office now. Where you found the pets? Every now and then, we’d hear giggles from that room. We’d spot women come and go from there at all hours. My sister, the poor thing, would just sit in the lawn till late at night and look at the windows of that room. Hoping that Nishant would someday come back to her. To be honest, I’ve thought about killing him so many times. But I guess the punishment God has given him is harsh enough. I am sure Neelima, wherever she is, is content.”

  They were cruising all this while before they got stuck in traffic going towards the Mumbai Pune expressway. Rujuta cursed at the traffic. Naveen however, was oblivious to Rujuta’s rants. He continued talking. “Neelima then thought of an idea to get Nishant back on track. At a party, she announced that she was pregnant with Nishant’s child. Nishant was shocked initially, but eventually he seemed happy about it. Even I was unaware of it. However, Neelima miscarried because of that previous abortion. Nishant was disappointed. Guess he was at that age when you want to bear kids to take your legacy forward.”

  Verma had emptied his coffee container long back. He paused to catch his breath, and then said, “Things were tough for a few days and to break the impasse, Nishant decided to adopt a baby. Payal. She gave a new lease of life to Nishant, Neelima and their relationship. Nishant started to spend more time at home to be with Payal. He reduced his commitments outside Ronak so that he could take Payal out. Slowly, he even started to come back to Neelima. Neelima couldn’t be happier. Payal was what that crumbling house needed. Really. Everyone was happy for a bit.”

  “I know. It’s common knowledge that Payal was adopted. But I did not know that she was this important to the marriage!” Rujuta said.

  “How could you? There are so many things that happen behind closed doors. But anyway, Payal was two, I think, and Neelima and Nishant conceived again. I don’t know if it was planned or just happened. But this time, they were successful. Nidhi was here. She came with great difficulty. Neelima almost lost her life during the delivery. But when she gave birth to Nidhi, Neelima was on top of the world. She decided to give the two girls everything she had. All was good for a few days, but as they say, blood is thicker than anything else. Neelima liked Nidhi a wee bit more than Payal. And Nishant for some reason liked Payal better than Nidhi.”

  They had been driving for almost an hour. Rujuta took a break and parked the car at a restaurant on the highway. She lit a cigarette and even though it was still afternoon, Naveen bought a six-pack.

  Naveen resumed talking. “Just when the household was showing signs of settling down in a happy routine, Nishant started it again. For some reason, Nidhi ended up on the receiving end. Nidhi was a kid, a very young kid. Every time she tried to go close to Nishant, he would hurl abuses at her. Other times, he totally ignored her. He would get gifts, dresses, toys and what not for Payal. And nothing for Nidhi. Neelima could not tolerate Nishant’s behavior towards Nidhi. She tried arguing with Nishant but to no avail. She then decided to take matters in her hands. Like any disgruntled mother, she started treating the two girls differently. I told her that it was wrong and uncalled for, but she was so attached to Nidhi that she was adamant that Nidhi gets the place she deserved in Nishant�
�s life.”

  Verma took a pause to take a swig. “Nishant was no less than Neelima,” he continued, “he did to Nidhi exactly what Neelima would do to Payal. Because of these stupid clashes between Nishant and Neelima, the two girls suffered.

  “And then Nishant started to slip again. Faster this time. It was a matter of time. His alcohol, the womanizing, was back. Neelima and Nishant would fight constantly and the two girls would huddle together and see their parents exchange knocks. Surprisingly, all this tension in the house brought the two sisters closer. So close that despite attempts by Neelu and Nishant, they remained inseparable.”

  “The household had become a mess. Ronak had these negative vibes. I stopped going there because every time I went there, I was filled with pity and anger over my inability to do anything about the situation. The girls were the only sane part about their household. Nishant’s work started to suffer as well. Newer, younger actors were making it big, and meaty roles were slipping away from him. This is when Lahu Ka Rang happened.”

  “Yes, the super duper hit Lahu Ka Rang. Produced by Roshan Taluja. Who hasn’t heard about that film? It ran for what… three years at a theatre in Calcutta, no?” Rujuta chipped in.

  “Yeah! Another PR stunt by Taluja. It just had one show and they didn’t play the movie half the time. Anyway, with the success of Lahu Ka Rang, things seemed to get back to normal. Normal for them meant regular bouts of arguments and heated debates through the day, followed by dinner around a table like a family. Four of them. Thanks to Nidhi and Payal.”

  “Really? So then what went wrong?” Rujuta asked. A measured, innocent question to add fuel to fire.

  “Success! That went wrong. Nishant could not control his temper and he hit Neelima in a party that had the entire industry in attendance. I was travelling that night or else it would have never happened. I would’ve killed that bastard.”

  He took a large slug at the beer can. He stared ahead at the road. His eyes got moist again. Second time in the day.

  This time around, Rujuta was sympathetic to him. She had seen some tough times herself but nothing like this hell that Payal and Nidhi had been through.

  “I am amazed that Neelima did not tell me about it back then. I guess she was afraid that I’d end up doing something stupid. Damn. You know we live fake lives. Everything we do, we want to do is scrutinized, planned, written like a script.” He opened his next beer.

  “So after about a year of this, Neelima died in a fire accident at our Khandala house. Neelima, Payal and Nidhi had gone there to accompany Nishant on a shoot. To this day, I am sure Nishant had something to do with the accident that killed Neelima. But I can’t prove it. I even hired a private investigator, but he could not do much.”

  Rujuta was surprised at this. She had done her research and she could not find anything about a fire that claimed Neelima’s life. Newspapers from back then said that she died of a heart attack. “What? A fire? I thought she died of some heart complication!” Rujuta said.

  Naveen sighed. “It was an elaborate stunt we pulled. You know, our lives are elaborate lies. We are public figures. We have an audience, gaping at us 24 x 7. We need to ensure that the public likes us; we need to give them entertainment.”

  Rujuta’s mind was racing. She could see a vague picture emerge. Pets, fire, murders, everything seemed to have happened to Nishant Kapoor as well. The incidents of the past few days were merely modern day reenactment of things that had happened years ago. Just that back then, it was Nishant Kapoor who was on the receiving end and this time, it was Nidhi.

  Naveen continued to talk. “While Nishant and Payal were stoic at Neelima’s death, Nidhi lost it. For her, her mother was her world. She went into depression and I had to take her to doctors. Just the way I had taken Neelu all those years ago.”

  They were now headed back to Mumbai. Naveen said, “For me it was the same nightmare all over again. However, Nidhi was younger than Neelima and she recovered fast. She was almost normal when Nishant had his accident. That accident changed our lives yet again. I don’t believe the number of twists that fate has played in our lives. But then, this time since Nishant got paralyzed and was sent away, Nidhi had to start acting because Payal was not up to it. With time, things became normal. We were so happy after all these years. Till Cho, Caesar and Cookie were killed few days back.”

  Rujuta did not know how to react. Naveen had told her a very fascinating story, straight out of a book. She concluded that whoever was doing this had to be closely related to Nishant Kapoor. And since Nishant had a very few acquaintances left, it wouldn’t be too difficult to close the case. She would have to revisit everything all over again. She’d have to dig deeper into Preeti’s life, investigate Neelima’s death and finally check for Nidhi’s depression. She suddenly missed Prakash and his analytical brain.

  “I have just one more question,” she said. “Two, actually. One, what happened to Preeti? And two, who could have those tapes of Neelima Ji and Nidhi?”

  “I don’t know what happened to Preeti. All I know is that she came to Ronak one evening, got into this big-ass argument with Neelima and never came back after that. I don’t care for her, to be honest. If she’s gone, good. If she’s dead, even better. If she is suffering, it’s the best that I could ask for. The tapes, I don’t know. I think Nishant must have recorded those himself because there was no one else who could get into Ronak without getting screened by security or Basheer, Nishant’s bodyguard.”

  “I will have to do something about Preeti,” Rujuta said. “I don’t understand how someone like her could disappear like that without trace. Who do you think we can talk to about her? She would have…”

  Before Rujuta could complete her sentence, Naveen interrupted, “I remember something. I had forgotten about it completely. Shit. So stupid of me. You know, a few days after that party when Nishant beat Neelima, they received photographs of Nishant and Preeti in compromising positions. When Neelima saw those, she had threatened to walk out of the marriage but I asked her to stay patient. I did not want the two girls to suffer.”

  “What?” Rujuta exclaimed.

  “Yeah. And you know what? I think Nishant shot the photographs himself and sent them to Neelima,” Naveen said tentatively.

  “Why would he do that?” Rujuta frowned.

  Naveen thought about it for some time and said, “Maybe he knew that Neelima would want to separate if she saw the photographs. And if Neelima asked for separation, he wouldn’t have to give her any alimony.”

  Rujuta nodded and started to stare at the road ahead. She was trying to add these threads, these pieces to her jigsaw.

  When Naveen saw that nothing was coming out from Rujuta, he signed out loud and dropped yet another bomb. “You know, the day after those pets were found dead, we had planned a small get together at Ronak because it was Nishant and Neelima’s 30th wedding anniversary.”

  21. Day 15, Afternoon. Panchgani.

  Rujuta was standing on the footboard of a fast Churchgate local. Unlike other women who opted for the comfort and safety of seats inside the compartment, Rujuta preferred standing on the footboard. While most women cowered with horror at the thought of wind and dust wrecking havoc with their hair, Rujuta loved the feeling.

  The strong oncoming wind was trying to uproot Rujuta’s thick silky hair but the strong knot that she had tied her hair in, stayed put. Her loose t-shirt clung to her body, outlining her petite and yet shapely structure. She was holding on to the vertical iron handlebar in the middle of the open door. The harmonious music created by the moving train, the wind and other sounds of life around her made her feel alive.

  Out of nowhere, Prakash appeared in the same compartment as Rujuta. The sight of his broad shoulders and taut muscles added to Rujuta’s excitement. She remained standing on the footboard and gave suggestive looks to Prakash.

  Prakash came closer and held Rujuta at her love handles and leaned into her ears. He whispered something that made Rujuta laugh. When h
e started nibbling on her ears, she pushed him away. She did not realize that Prakash was not holding onto anything but her. The push was little too hard. Prakash stumbled awkwardly. He fumbled around, trying to find something to hold onto. And just then, the train braked for no reason.

  With a lurch, Prakash fell off the fast moving train. Rujuta screamed and lunged at him. She extended her hand to support him but he had already fallen off.

  She saw Prakash bouncing off the rocky bed of the train track. His head hit a sharp rock and thick red blood started gushing out of the open wound. The train she was on mercilessly raced away from Prakash.

  Rujuta had a decision to make. Without thinking much, she jumped off the moving train and landed on the track with a thud. She felt an acute pain run though her legs and spine. She released a loud scream. She knew she had hurt herself bad. But she had to save Prakash.

  All of a sudden, the pain in her legs was replaced by a familiar, gentle touch on her arms and forehead. She heard someone calling her from a distance. It sounded like Prakash.

  She opened her eyes slowly and found Prakash on the driver seat of a car and herself next to him. He had stopped the car at the side of the highway and was looking at Rujuta with concern. “Are you alright? Rujuta? What happened?” He was holding onto Rujuta’s hand and forehead. The AC was running full blast and yet Rujuta was sweating profusely. Prakash wiped the sweat off her forehead with his handkerchief. “What is it Rujuta? You are scaring me,” he said.

  Rujuta took a minute to gather her thoughts and get her breathing back to normal. Her thoughts and reality had jumbled up and she was in a lucid dream. She remembered that they had decided to take a break and go to Panchgani for a couple of days. Along the way, they had planned to see the Khandala home of the Kapoors where apparently Neelima Kapoor had died. They chose Panchgani because it was Prakash’s favorite place. Every time he could escape from Mumbai, he would go there. It was not very far from Mumbai; he could reach there in less than six hours. And it was not very close for builders and land sharks. Panchgani thus, still remained unspoiled by modernity.