Neelima Azeem On Divorce With Pankaj Kapur: 'No Regrets Because I Have Shahid, Same For Ishaan'

Neelima Azeem and Pankaj Kapur’s divorce remains one of the most discussed yet dignified separations in the Indian film and theatre fraternity. The two were married in the early 1970s. Their marriage,

however, did not last long, and they eventually decided to part ways. In a recent chat with Vickey Lalwani, Neelima opened up about her divorce.

Neelima said, “I just feel that, unfortunately, it was meant to be. Nobody gets married to separate, right? They get married to stay together forever… But I think maybe we were very different people, and also, marriage is not about just what anybody did or what happened. I think it’s about where you are in your mind and where you are in your life, which phase you are in. And if those vibrations don’t have the same frequency, I just feel that it doesn’t sit well.”

She reflected on their relationship being long-distance and said, “I think there was a very massive distance, since he was in Mumbai and I was in Delhi. And I was still very much the girl who was in Delhi with my parents, because that’s how it was. And maybe it was not a good idea at that point in time for him to have taken off to Mumbai without me. And later, without Shahid.”

However, Neelima clarified that Pankaj had asked her about his move. “I said, go ahead, you are extremely talented… He was trying to make ground here, and I was in Delhi. So I think it was years of distancing that made us go our own ways,” she added and said that it didn’t make sense financially for all of them to move to Mumbai together.

“I was just too young. So I think it was just too much for my very young shoulders to handle… If I look at it from every angle, I always say this, then I don’t know how many people understand it, but I have no regrets because I have Shahid. And the same goes for Ishaan. So I have no regrets,” she concluded.