Lessons from Bollywood

Lessons from Bollywood

Bollwood can teach us more than we think. A sneak peak in the following high profile Bollywood divorces reveal a shocking reality.

Roja actor Arvind Swamy

Arvind Swamy created quite a stir in the nineties for playing lead role in Roja and Bombay. Then he shifted his focus to Tollywood. However, this actor came back to the limelight during his high profile divorce from wife Gayathri.  Arvind had to shell out a whopping Rs 75 lakhs as divorce alimony and Rs 1 lakh as monthly maintenance.

Sanjay Dutt

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt also paid a huge alimony to ex-wife Rhea Pillai. According to reports, he gave her the flat where they lived, estimated to be worth Rs 8 crores, a plush Honda City and also took care of all her expenses that include several trips to foreign countries.

Karishma Kapoor

Karishma Kapoor and husband Sunjay Kapoor have lived apart for several months. Things came to a head last week when Sunjay came to Mumbai with divorce papers. But Karisma refused to sign them — she said she wanted Rs 7 crore in alimony along with the divorce.

Prabhu Deva

According to the settlement agreed upon between the Tamil actor and choreographer, Prabhu Deva has agreed to give up properties collectively worth a staggering Rs. 25-20 crore to his wife of 15 years.

Among these properties, included is the sea-side villa at Injambakkam, a bungalow in upmarket Anna Nagar, and three other apartments located in Hyderabad. Also included in the divorce settlement are two cars. Apart from the above mentioned properties, the actor-choreographer is also expected to give up a sum of Rs. 10lakh to wife Lath as a one-time alimony. He is also legally bound to take care of the educational and medical expenses if and when required by their two sons.

Aditya Chopra

Aditya Chopra and wife Payal Khanna have been legally separated since two years but the marriage is not even close to being dissolved. Payal Khanna has asked for a hefty alimony to settle the divorce,

The above are the glaring examples of how costly an affair divorce can be. However unjust the above divorces and the alimony may seem, it is legally fair. But the above would not have been a reality had the above actors heard a simple word- ‘pre-nuptial agreement’. A prenuptial accord is a contract between two people about to wed that spells out how assets will be distributed in the event of divorce or death. Such agreements have existed for thousands of years in some form or another, particularly in European and Far Eastern cultures, where royal families have always made provisions for protecting their wealth.

A new bill pending in the Parliament seeks to tilt the balance even more. The proposed Marriage Act (Amendment) Bill, if passed, will give women a clearly defined 50% share in the immovable property of their husband. Thus, pre-nuptial agreement can be a life saver in such a situation. Though it sounds like a ‘kill romance’ word, a pre-nup is smart financial planning.

Also, the above example focuses only on rich Bollywood celebrities. In fact most people buy the notion that pre-nups are only for the rich. However, one need not be a Tata or Ambani to sign a pre-nupt. Things change. One may start poor, but after a few years they might become more accomplished and their income may increase. The pre-nuptial agreement can protect the accumulated wealth and provide for how it will be dealt with if a marriage ends in divorce or death.

There is another false belief that pre-marital agreements only protects the wealthier spouse and leaves the other spouse with little or nothing. However, pre-nupts are meant to be fair. It can very well be set aside if it is found to be unconscionable.

Lastly, if we contrast the pain of saying the word “pre-nup” with the bitterness of a divorce, where greed and irrationality dominate- there is no question which will be more painful.