"There's a gnawing hollowness in my chest that I know I'll have to learn how to live with. Even with all this emptiness, I still feel your love. I feel you are protecting me from sadness and pain," Janhvi Kapoor, late actor Sridevi's older daughter, has written in a heartfelt tribute to her mother.
On Saturday, a week after Sridevi passed away in Dubai, Janhvi took to Instagram to pen a moving post about her mother, her 'best friend' and 'reason for everything'.
Sridevi/Twitter
"You were a blessing in all our lives, we were blessed to have had you for as long as we did. But, you weren't meant for this world. You were too good, too pure, too full of love. That's why he took you back. But at least we had you," she writes.
Janhvi, who turns 21 on March 7, says she wants to make her mother proud. "Your whole life you kept giving, and all I wanted was to do that for you too, Mumma. I want to make you so proud. Every morning, all that I would do was with the hope that one day you'd be as proud of me as I was of you. But I promise I'll wake up everyday still with that same thought."
"Because," she continues, "you are here and I can feel you. You're in me, Khushi and in Papa. The imprint you've left on us is so strong, it might just be enough to keep us going, but never enough to be fully whole. I love you, my everything."
Sridevi/Twitter
Janhvi also asks people to love their parents and to remember her mother fondly.
"Let the love and adulation you’ll showered on her continue and please know that the biggest part of my mother was the love she shared with papa. And their love is immortal because there was nothing like it in the whole world. Nothing as joyful and pure and no two people as devoted to one another as they were. Please respect that because it hurts to think anyone would ever try to tarnish it. Preserving the sanctity of what they had would mean the world not only to my mother but also to a man who’s entire being revolved around her, and her two children who are all that remains of their love. Me and Khushi have lost our mother but papa has lost his “Jaan”. She was so much more than just an actor or a mother or a wife. She was the ultimate and the best in all these roles. It mattered a great deal to her to give love and to get love. For people to be good and gracious and kind. She didn’t understand frustration or malice or jealousy. So let’s be that. Let’s be full of only good and give only love. That would make her happy, to know that even in death, she gave you all something. The courage and inspiration to fill yourselves with nothing but love and rid yourselves of bitterness in any way and form. That’s what she stood for. Dignity, strength and innocence. Thank you for the love and support everyone has shown us in the past couple of days. It’s given us hope and strength and we can’t thank you all enough," she adds.
Sridevi/Twitter
Janhvi will be making her foray into filmdom with Dhadak, which also stars Shahid Kapoor's brother Ishaan Khatter.
Sridevi, who was known to be fiercely protective about her daughters, had in earlier interviews said how she was equally excited, nervous and happy about Janhvi's debut.
When asked about the comparisons and pressures that Janhvi will have to face in the industry, the veteran actor had told DNA, "We can't run away from that. She has to face the pressure. When she has decided to enter Bollywood, she has to go through all this. She's prepared for all that, and I am also preparing myself for it. Sometimes, it scares me. So many thoughts come and you feel why is she doing this? But then, if you feel that is her aim and happiness, as a mother, I will support her like my mom supported me. We weren't from a film background but it happened and she stood by me, fought for me and made sure I am happy. That's how I would also like to be with Janhvi."