BONEY Kapoor led the tributes to his wife, legendary Bollywood actress Sridevi, by remembering her as “the reason we always smiled”.
The heartbroken movie producer was in Dubai with the star when she died, aged 54, from accidental drowning – but what else do we know about him?
Who is Boney Kapoor and what does he do?
Movie producer Boney Kapoor, 62, comes from an illustrious showbiz family.
His father Surinder was also a famous Bollywood producer and his younger brother Anil and Sanjay are both successful actors.
He was branded one of the biggest spenders in Bollywood after producing Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, one of the most expensive Indian films ever, with a budget of £5.2million.
His most famous movie remains the science fiction classic Mr India, starring Anil and his late wife Sridevi, which was the second highest grossing film in 1987.
One of Boney’s latest films, Wanted starring the legendary Salman Khan, went on to break several Bollywood records.
It was the second highest grossing Indian film in 2009 and made £11million in the country alone on its opening weekend.
Mom, the latest film he produced, starred his late wife Sridevi.
She played a vigilante mother out to avenge her daughter who was raped and killed.
What did Boney say after Sridevi’s death?
“Losing a friend, wife and mother of your two young daughters is a loss inexplicable in words,” Boney Kapoor wrote a day after thousands lined the streets of Mumbai for her funeral procession.
In a touching statement on Sridevi’s official Twitter account, he added: “To me she was my love, my friend, mother to our girls, my partner.
“To our daughters she was their everything… their life. She was the axis around which our family ran.
“The curtains never come down on an actor’s life because they shine on the silver screen forever.”
How did Boney meet Sridevi and how long were they together?
Boney, who pictured standing over her Sridevi’s body with daughters Khushi and Janhvi before the procession, was married to the actress for 21 years.
He famously said he fell in love with her the first time he saw her on screen, according to India Today.
“When I met her, it was almost like a dream come true,” Boney said of their first meeting her on set in Chennai, as he tried to sign her for Mr India.
Once she was on board, Boney is reported to have gone all out to impress her – “from getting her the best make-up room to the best costumes”.
Who was Boney’s first wife Mona Shourie?
Mona Shourie was married to Boney from 1983 to 1996 and had two children with him – son Arjun and daughter Anshula.
She was the CEO of Future Studios, the largest fully furnished shooting space in Mumbai.
Mona has produced several successful TV shows including Yug, a fictional series about a group of Indian freedom fighters.
After splitting with Boney, she continued to live at her in-laws’ with her two children until she died aged 48 from organ failure in March 2012.
Who was Sridevi Kapoor?
Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in Sivakasi, India, in 1963, Sridevi broke into acting at the tender age of four.
She landed her first adult role by 13, which saw her play a college girl involved in a bitter love triangle.
Sridevi made her debut as a lead actress in Bollywood in 1978 and was eventually regarded as Hindi cinema’s first “female superstar”.
She featured in almost 300 films throughout her career and in 2012 returned to the craft in Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish after a 15-year hiatus.
What did conspiracy theorists say about Sridevi’s death?
The iconic actress’ death has been marred by conspiracy theories, with one Indian MP going as far as to claim her death “looked planned”.
Local cops said the actress, who had alcohol in her system, drowned accidentally after losing consciousness in a hotel in Dubai where she was attending a wedding.
“She never drank hard liquor, so how did it enter her system – was she forcibly fed?” Subramanian Swamy was quoted as saying in the Tribune.
Read about the beloved celebs who have passed
Meanwhile Indian TV reporters were seen getting into bathtubs to prove how difficult drowning in one would be, the Times reported.
Another wild theory apparently circulating online links her death to an illegal alcohol racket involving other Bollywood actors.
Sridevi was considered one of the most influential Bollywood actresses of all time and her sudden death at the weekend sparked an outpouring of grief in India.