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Late industrialist and billionaire Sunjay Kapur has not only left behind a vast estate, reportedly worth Rs 30,000 crore, but also a brewing inheritance battle between his third wife, Priya Sachdev Kapur, and his children from his second marriage to actress Karisma Kapoor. While the legal dispute remains sub judice, Sunjay’s sister, Mandira Kapur Smith, has now spoken out in a candid conversation with journalist Vickey Lalwani. She accused Priya of contributing to the breakdown of Sunjay’s marriage with Karisma.
Mandira said, “I had known about them (Priya and Sunjay) since they met on that flight, and I wasn’t happy about it. Lolo (Karisma) and Sanjay, my brother, were in a good place, actually. Kian was born. My brother was obsessed with his kids. I think for another woman to not care about a woman who’s just had a child is in bad taste. To come and disrupt a family is in bad taste. And I will leave it there. I think the world knows what I’m saying. You don’t break up a happy marriage. Not even a happy marriage, you don’t break up a marriage that is trying to work on keeping a family together. When you’ve got a child, you’ve just had another child, you step aside and say, ‘You know what?’ Or you encourage the man to go back and make it work. You don’t destroy a marriage. And Lolo did not deserve that. Lolo was also working very hard to make this marriage work. She did not deserve what came to her.”
Mandira Kapur Smith further revealed that her entire family, including their late father, was opposed to Sunjay Kapur’s relationship with Priya Sachdev. “He kind of convinced me that, you know, this was the one for him, and she was this way and she was that way. And I had a trip with my mother, my father, my sister, my brother-in-law in Goa. And Dad was totally against Priya. He said, ‘He can never marry her. I don’t ever want to see her face. And they can’t have children.’ That was very clearly said. So, you know, that’s the reality: no one in this family stood by this. Nobody stood by them getting married. Nobody stood by them. I did it because I love my brother. But for me, Lolo had the children, she had everything. They should have made it work. She should have been allowed to have her husband.”
She added that neither she nor her sister attended Sunjay Kapur and Priya Sachdev’s wedding in 2017. “Actually, my sister and I didn’t even go for the wedding. We didn’t even go to New York for the wedding. I was very clear that my father was against this, and I wasn’t going to stand by it. If dad was here, this wouldn’t even have happened. If he was here, Priya won’t be a part of this family. My mother had to go because she was living with my brother. And she was very upset that we hadn’t come, but I think we were very clear that we could not support this, because the only thing Dad said to him was: ‘Do not get married and do not have kids.’”
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When asked whether Karisma Kapoor had reached out during that difficult time, Mandira said there had been a silence between them, something she still regrets. “We weren’t actually talking in that time frame… because I think she was obviously upset with me as well. And I don’t blame her. I think it was horrible, what happened with the family entirely. I feel bad because she was my best friend. I wish I’d taken more of a stand for her, because she was my best friend, and I should have stood up for her. I should have. I don’t know what I could have done differently, honestly.”
Karisma Kapoor married Sunjay Kapur in 2003. The couple had two children, Samaira, born in 2005, and Kiaan, born in 2011. However, the marriage eventually ended in divorce in 2016 after a prolonged legal battle. Sunjay married Priya Sachdev the following year. They remained together until his death in June 2025.
