Boney Kapoor CONFIRMS Janhvi Kapoor-Shikhar Pahariya Relationship: 'We Are Blessed To Have Him...'

During a recent interview, Boney Kapoor opened up on his daughter Janhvi Kapoor's rumoured boyfriend, Shikhar Pahariya.

Boney Kapoor is looking forward to the release of his upcoming film Maidaan, a sports drama featuring Ajay Devgn as the late Indian football coach Syed Abdul Rahim. During a recent interview, he also touched upon the topic of his daughter Janhvi Kapoor’s rumoured boyfriend, Shikhar Pahariya.

Speaking to Zoom, Boney Kapoor said, “I love him (Shikhar) and in fact, in between a couple of years back Janhvi was not seeing him but I was still friendly to him. I was convinced he can never be an ex. He’ll be around. When any person is there for you in any capacity whether it’s for me, whether it’s for Janhvi, whether it’s for Arjun, he is friendly to all. So I feel we’re blessed to have somebody like him in our set up.”

Janhvi Kapoor has not formally accepted her relationship with Shikhar Pahariya, but she never shied away from stepping out with him on lunch and dinner dates. The rumoured lovebirds recently partied together as Shikhar attended Janhvi’s sister Khushi Kapoor’s birthday bash. They even took a vacation to the Maldives together and Shikhar was also present at Janhvi’s uncle, Anil Kapoor’s birthday party. On her 27th birthday last month, Janhvi, along with Shikhar and close friend Orry, aka Orhan Awatramani, visited the Tirupati Temple. Several pictures of the trio from the temple premises also surfaced on the internet.

Shikhar Pahariya is the grandson of politician and Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Reportedly, Shikhar and Janhvi were in a serious relationship earlier but then broke up. Karan Johar in Koffee With Karan season 7 almost confirmed the dating rumours, but Janhvi then maintained that she was single. The duo reportedly patched up last year. They are often spotted together now and Shikhar has also posed for paps with Boney Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor on several occasions.

Boney Kapoor is happy to see his four children finally 'getting along'. He also speaks about how he has never been a father to meddle in their dating choices. Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora reportedly began dating in 2018 and a little birdie tells us that they’ve managed to manoeuvre the many ups and downs in their relationship. In the last season of Koffee With Karan, Janhvi Kapoor confirmed that she’s indeed gone back to ex-flame Shikhar Pahariya. In the same episode, link-up rumours about Khushi Kapoor and her The Archies co-actor Vedang Raina were also addressed. Anshula Kapoor, on the other hand, made her relationship with screenwriter Rohan Thakkar Instagram official.

In a chat with News18 Showsha, Boney Kapoor, says that he has ‘thankfully’ never been the sort of father to talk to his children about their dating choices. “It’s their personal life. I can talk to them just once or twice and share my opinion. But the thing is that children, today, mature much faster as compared to our generation. You can’t push them into toeing the line or thinking in the way you do,” he tells News18.

Boney Kapoor said that Sridevi, who died in February 2018, had dreams for Janhvi's wedding. “She never wanted any of the daughters to become actors. She was imagining to get Janhvi and Khushi married. Whenever we would attend a wedding, Sridevi would dream of getting Janhvi also married to a nice boy,” he added.

Workwise, Boney Kapoor, who's awaiting the Eid release of his film the Ajay Devgn-starrer Maidaan on April 10, said that Salman Khan has committed to doing Wanted 2. He also revealed that he has an idea for Mr India 2. Speaking about the sequel for Mr India, whose "beating heart" was Sridevi, Boney told News18, “I’ve had a couple of meetings with a big overseas studio who are very seen to join hands with us. It could be a collaboration for a foreign studio, Zee and me. It may not be a sequel, it could just be a reboot or whatever. The idea is to make Mr India again. It could happen this year, it could happen next year or the following year. This kind of film cannot be planned in a jiffy."

While Janhvi Kapoor is gearing for her debut in the Telugu film industry this year and has two films lined up with Tollywood stars: Devara with NTR Jr. and the tentatively titled RC16 with Ram Charan.