During the 90s, Bollywood witnessed the rise of several leading ladies, but none matched the meteoric stardom of Divya Bharti. With her debut in the Telugu hit Bobbili Raja and later in Hindi cinema with Vishwatma (1992), Divya became one of the most sought-after actresses of her time. However, her career and life were cut short tragically on April 5, 1993, when she passed away at just 19.Now, her second cousin Kainaat Arora has made emotional revelations about Divya’s demise, recalling how her mother, Meeta Bharti, once shared a priest’s chilling prediction about her daughter’s short life span and her belief in rebirth. She also opened up about her memories of Divya, her bond with Divya’s family, and the conversations she shared with the late actress’ mother.
‘I got very attached to Divya’s mother’
Speaking to Filmygyan, Kainaat revealed how she became close to Divya Bharti’s family after moving to Mumbai.“Of course, it was unexpected. See, I was very young when this thing happened. She is my, not like cousin-cousin. There is a cousin in between. There is a relation far off, distant relationship with the family. But when I came to Bombay, I got very, very attached to Divya Bharti’s mother, Meeta Bharti ji. I used to call her Meeta mom. She took care of me a lot. OP Bharti ji’s father was an amazing family. Kunal bhaiya, her brother. So, I got attached to the family because I was all alone in Bombay. And doing movies was never the plan, to be honest. But Meeta mom wanted me to do a movie with Sajid Nadiadwala. Do this, do that… she said she is my daughter,” Kainaat shared.Calling Divya “one of a kind,” she added, “Divya Bharti was a legendary actress. I am still a huge fan of her. There is no comparison with Divya ji. Shri Devi ji was a legendary. Divya ji was also a legendary… She was so charismatic, so beautiful, so extraordinary. Her beautiful, sparkling eyes, her beauty — she was one and only Divya Bharti. And I’m sure she lives in our hearts. Shah Rukh Khan is only one. And there is only one Mr. Bachchan, one Mr. Dilip Kumar. True, true, true. We can never really compare anybody with anybody.”
‘My daughter has Alpayu Yog’
Kainaat further recalled how Divya’s mother once revealed a priest had predicted her daughter’s short life span.“When I came to meet her after coming to Bombay, she told me, Kainat, my daughter has come back. I said, why are you saying this, Meeta ma’am? She said, when my daughter was young, Divya, she was very young, a priest saw her horoscope and told Meeta ma’am that Divya Bharti had Alpayu Yog in her horoscope. Once she turned 18, there was some danger. So, we started doing puja. But after some time, we stopped. Then, of course, she entered the film industry. When Divya passed away, her mother told me she found that priest again. She said to him, my daughter has left, all your predictions came true. What should I do now? And he said, she will come back, she will take rebirth. So Meeta ma’am used to tell me, ‘My daughter has come back.’ She would call me Divya,” Kainaat revealed.
‘There is no one like Divya’
Though Kainaat never met Divya personally, she admitted she grew up admiring her films and charisma as a fan.“I’ve never met her. I was very young, I was a baby when she passed away. But I’ve grown up watching her movies. For me, it was beautiful enough. I knew the family, and I knew the mother who gave birth to such an iconic, legendary artist. She loved me a lot when I came to Bombay. She really wanted me to do something. But I said, mom, we get our destiny written. There is no one like Divya. She was the only one,” Kainaat said.
Divya Bharti’s legacy
For the unversed, Divya Bharti delivered 13 hit films in just three years — a record that placed her alongside the biggest actresses of the 90s, including Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, and Meenakshi Sheshadri. After her untimely demise, nine of her incomplete films were reassigned to contemporaries like Sridevi, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Kajol, Mamta Kulkarni, and Pooja Bhatt.
