4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Mar 28, 2024 09:46 AM IST
Darlings actor Shefali Shah and filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah have been married for over two decades and have two sons, Aryaman and Maurya. But the 50-year-old actor was once married to Harsh Chhaya. The former couple, who worked together on the Zee TV show Hasratein, separated after six years of marriage. Both Shefali and Harsh have called their 2000 separation a “difficult phase” in their lives. Harsh, who was seen in shows like Taara, Saaya and Justujoo, recently opened up about their divorce. Speaking to Siddharth Kanan, he said, “The separation was pretty tough.”
The 57-year-old, who later tied the knot with Bengali actor Suneeta Gupta, added that their divorce is a “closed chapter” now. “Itni puraani kahani hai. Itna samay beet gaya hai…bees pachees saal ho gaye hain (It is an old story now. 20-25 years have gone by). For me, it is a closed chapter.” He further said that while the two of them are not on talking terms, he wouldn’t be uncomfortable around her. “No, we are not friends. I don’t have an issue talking to her, so if we bump into each other, I wouldn’t get uncomfortable,” added Harsh, who tied the knot with Shefali in 1994.
Shefali, in an old interview, talks about her show Hasratein, where she shared the screen with ex-husband Harsh:
In an earlier conversation with Hindustan Times, Harsh said he saw the divorce coming and it was going to be a bitter one. “It hurt. The separation didn’t take me by surprise. I had seen it coming for almost eight months,” he said, adding, “I still look back at it very pragmatically. Two people met, fell in love, got married and parted ways. One couldn’t do anything about it. I felt it was better to separate than live a life where you don’t know where your marriage is going.” Harsh admitted that he went through a bad phase in a “clinical way” following his separation. “After feeling bad and gathering enough sympathy for myself, I finally got out of it in six months.”
Shefali, on the other hand, said people didn’t make a big deal about their divorce. Talking about her failed marriage and reminiscing about the experience, she told Pinkvilla, “I have given a long long chunk of life to that relationship. I worked very hard and I used to believe that marriages are happily ever after until you realise okay, it’s a notion. That’s not necessarily how things work in life. It wasn’t that the whole phase wasn’t making me richer or happier, sane or person.”
She said she had no regrets about investing in her marriage with Harsh. “And after a point of time, you just realise what is better for you, which is better for everyone around. So, not for a second did I think it was because I gave it a lot of time and everything I had in me. And it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out. It’s just too bad. Why do people make hue and cry about it,” said Shefali.
Harsh Chhaya speaks about his separation from wife Shefali Shah (Source: Instagram/shefalishahofficial/YouTube)