Kainaat Arora, a second cousin of Divya Bharti, will be making her Bollywood acting debut in Gup Chup Gup Chup and will also be doing an item number in Akshay Kumar’s Khatta Meetha. Looking uncannily like her late cousin, Kainaat also appears to be following in her footsteps, having been raised in the same city, Sarangpur, attending the same school, and even being introduced to Sajid Nadiadwala upon entry to Bollywood. “Two years ago I came to Mumbai from Delhi after completing a course from NIFT and after doing some modeling assignments,” she says, “I met Divya’s father as soon as I came to Mumbai. He said that after Divya, it was my turn to make everyone proud. He introduced me to Sajid Nadiadwala, who Divya was married to.”
Burning with ambition, the 19-year-old Divya had burst on the Bollywood scene after a period down south. Her movie with Rishi Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan, Deewana, became the biggest hit of 1992 and helped to make Shahrukh the star he is today. However, with great things expected of her, tragedy happened. She fell to her death from the fifth floor of a balcony. Mystery continues to surround the event – was it an accident, suicide or murder? Police investigated the incident but came to no conclusion. Over the years, however, murky details have emerged about the Bollywood of the day, linking gangster-financed movies, favours to be repaid, drugs and alcohol – the storybook on this has yet to be closed.
Kainaat, however, is too young to know any of these things. “I was very young when didi passed away,” she explains, “I remember her coming to Sarangpur after her film Vishwatma had released. A crowd had gathered outside our house. I hope I make it. I want didi to be proud of me. She was a fantastic actress and if I become half of what she was, I will be very happy.”
