Janhvi Kapoor on times she felt “damaged’, her mother Sridevi & wanting “Izzat” beyond stardom 

Janhvi Kapoor reveals her vulnerable side in the most emotionally open conversation she has ever had at We The Women, the flagship festival curated by award- winning journalist Barkha Dutt. At the forum’s sixth edition, held on the ground in Jaipur and live streamed on digital platform Mojo Story, Janhvi Kapoor spoke candidly about coping with the loss of her mother Sridevi, seeking validation from the audience, and dealing with hurtful comments about her privilege.

The conversation took an especially emotional turn as she spoke about Sridevi’s death and how she turned to work as a distraction. “I don’t think I coped with it for a very long time. I don’t think I went about it in the way I should have gone about it…. When we had her my life was completely different and when we lost her, I was bang in the middle of the shoot of my first film. It was almost as if the life I was leading before her death was an idealistic and fictional life… It was during COVID, when I was forced to spend time with myself that I realised how damaged I was. I was almost like a zombie. on a hamster wheel doing things I didn’t even need to do, in a race that I didn’t need to be in with myself and seeking the company of people that I didn’t really even want in my life just to fill a void”, she said, choking up.