After 15 years of separation, Rajiv Rai and Sonam are divorced

Mumbai, July 30, 2016: Filmmaker Rajiv Rai and his actress wife Sonam have finally parted ways after 25 years of marriage. The official divorce came through on July 25 this year. Rai, who is the son of noted producer Gulshan Rai, is known for films like ‘Mohra’, ‘Gupt’ and ‘Tridev’.
When BT reached out to the director, he confirmed the news saying, “We decided to go in for a legal separation in June last year. The petition for divorce by mutual consent was filed on January 21 this year. Sonam and I didn’t have a showdown or argument. We’ve never had any verbal disagreements over this decision. There is no specific reason why things didn’t work out for us. We were trying hard to make our marriage work but somewhere along the way it collapsed. It isn’t anyone’s fault. ” Rajiv and Sonam fell in love during the making of ‘Tridev’. After three years of courtship, they got married on January 21, 1991, when Sonam was at the peak of her career. She started off young and shot to fame with movies like ‘Aakhri Adaalat’ and ‘Ajooba.’
While Sonam quit her acting career post marriage, Rajiv made ‘Gupt’ (1994). Around the same time he was targeted by the underworld. After an attack on him outside his office, he decided to leave India for good. The couple settled in Los Angeles and then in Switzerland before shifting base to Mumbai again a few years ago. However, they have been living separately since 2001. “In these 15 years we went for holidays together where we stayed in separate rooms. We’ve travelled to different parts of the world for our son’s education. Sonam and I held on to this marriage for so long, as we were waiting for our son to turn 18. He is 23 today and has accepted our decision with a lot of maturity. Had he vetoed it, we wouldn’t have gone ahead with it.