Janhvi Kapoor says aftermath of Sridevi, Dharmendra's deaths proved ‘derailment of morality’: ‘You see it become meme…’

Janhvi Kapoor spoke at an event in Mumbai about her mother Sridevi and Bollywood actor Dharmendra's deaths. Here's what she said.

Actor Janhvi Kapoor recently attended the We The Women Asia event in Mumbai, where she spoke about her mother and Bollywood veteran actor Dharmendra’s deaths. Speaking about the aftermath of her mother’s death in 2018 and now, Dharmendra’s Janhvi stated that the voyeuristic nature of mass media has caused a derailment of human morality. Here’s what she said.

Janhvi Kapoor opened up about the aftermath of Sridevi and Dharmendra's deaths.

Janhvi Kapoor on the pain she felt after Sridevi’s death

Janhvi stated that she worries people will think she’s using her mother’s death as a bid to grab headlines, so she avoids talking about it. “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 said.

She also spoke about how she tries to hold back from speaking about Sridevi's death, adding, “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.”

On mass media turning deaths into memes

Janhvi also recalled that after her mother died, it was turned into a meme. Calling out voyeurism, she said, “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 added, “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.”

For the unversed, Sridevi died in Dubai due to accidental drowning in a bathtub on 24 February 2018, months before her elder daughter Janhvi’s silver screen debut with Dhadak. Dharmendra died on 24 November 2025 in Mumbai after a brief hospitalisation.