Mandira Bedi reveals why she doesn't mark husband Raj Kaushal's death anniversary: ‘Why should we?’

Mandira Bedi shared her journey of grief after losing her husband Raj Kaushal, emphasizing the emotional challenges of first occasions without him.

Actor Mandira Bedi, who lost her husband-producer Raj Kaushal in 2021 to heart attack, has opened about dealing with the grief. She says, “with grief there aren't any shortcuts. You have to go through it.”

Mandira Bedi says she chooses not to mark husband Raj Kaushal's death anniversary.

‘The firsts of everything is hard’

In a conversation with Satyadev Barman on YouTube channel The Full Circle, Mandira opened up on how hard it was deal with all the first major occasions after Raj's death. She said, “I can say it now without fully breaking down, that first year, the first of everything, the first birthday, the first anniversary, first Diwali, Raj loved Diwali, the first New Year, they were all really hard. The firsts of everything is when you sit in your room and you shut the door and you don't want to talk to anybody and you cry, and you cry till you can't cry anymore."

Mandira encourages son Vir to cry and let his emotions out

Mandira, also mentioned how their kids coped up with the loss. She shared that since their adopted daughter Tara was just 8-9 months at the time of Raj's death, she had not known him for long. However, Vir was affected deeply, as he had a very strong bond with his father and he would often cry. "I never once told him not to cry. ‘Boys don’t cry’ that is crap. I told him cry as much as you feel like and let those tears out because the sooner you let all those tears out we will be able to remember him from a place of joy," Mandira said.

"I did a one-month puja, one-year puja and all other rituals. After the one-year puja, I decided I am not going to mark this day (death anniversary) anymore… why should we mark this day...what is there to remember in this day… it’s a sad day in our lives,” she said.

Mandira explained that now every August 15 which is Raj's birthday, they have a little puja and after that a lavish lunch where they have all the kind of foods that Raj loved. “This is our way to celebrate him. His legacy is the lives he touched. We have reached a stage where we laugh and remember him well,” she added.