Janhvi Kapoor recalls Sridevi, Dharmendra's deaths becoming a meme: ‘Horrible when I lost my mom’

Bollywood actor Janhvi Kapoor opened up about her mother Sridevi's death and called it a derailment of human morality. Taking Dharmendra's death as an example, she said that the passing of the icons was reduced to memes.

Kapoor spoke at the We The Women Asia event in Mumbai.

Janhvi Kapoor on being conscious about Sridevi's death

Janhvi Kapoor said she avoids talking about Sridevi's death as people might think that she is using her mother's death to hit headlines. She said, "The feeling and the phase that I went through during that time is something I’ll never be able to verbalise. And I think that it was such an individual experience that even if I told y’all everything about it, I don’t know if anyone will be able to relate to it."

She added, “I’m always conscious about sounding like I am saying things to get y’all to feel bad for me. I know everyone is opportunistic in nature, and everyone just wants a headline. I would hate if I ever sounded like I was using such a painful part of my life and my relationship with my mother for a headline. That always holds me back.”

Sridevi's death

Sridevi passed away in Dubai. Her cause of death was accidental drowning in a bathtub on 24 February 2018. Months later her elder daughter Janhvi Kapoor made her Bollywood debut.

The Dhadak actor predicted that voyeurism around deaths has even increased with time. “But what I will say is that the voyeuristic nature of journalism today, of media culture today, of social media today has single-handedly contributed to the complete derailment of human morality. I am seeing it more and more every day, and I think it was horrible when I lost my mom," she said.

Janhvi Kapoor on Dharmendra's death

Janhvi Kapoor mentioned how Dharmendra's death in November also witnessed the same. “I don’t know if anyone can imagine what it’s like to lose someone that close to you and see it become a meme. I don’t even know how to compute it, so I don’t know how to explain it. But it’s just gotten worse. We saw what happened with Dharam ji. It’s happened repeatedly before that, and I’m sure it will only get worse," she added.

Dharmendra died on 24 November 2025 in Mumbai after prolonged hospitalisation. Unlike Sridevi's funeral, Dharmendra's family completed his last rites in silence, while fans missed out on his antim darshan.