Actor Nimrat Kaur has opened up about one of the most painful chapters of her childhood — losing her father, Major Bhupender Singh, when she was just 11. The Indian Army officer was posted in Kashmir when he was abducted and killed by terrorists in January 1994. He was later posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra.Nimrat recalled how her mother, who was in her early to mid-30s at the time, suddenly found herself raising two young daughters after losing her husband. She said in an interview with ANI, “My mom was very young when we lost my father in Kashmir. She was literally in her early to mid-30s. So, the world she knew collapsed. We were just two young girls she was bringing up. We had family around us to support us at the time, especially from my maternal side. But, having said that, the life we knew was over.”Nimrat said that despite the immense trauma, her mother found the strength to rebuild their lives because of her two daughters. “It was really, really traumatic for her. I think the reason she went on and found the courage to bring herself together was because she recognised that these two kids had an entire life ahead of them. I think that’s what gave her the courage,” she said.Recalling the circumstances of her father’s abduction, Nimrat said Major Bhupender Singh was returning from an official assignment when he was taken away by people posing as Army personnel. “He was actually kidnapped on a normal day of work. He was going somewhere for a duty that he had been assigned and then, on his way back, he was kidnapped by people who posed as soldiers. They were wearing army fatigues and he was taken away,” she said.According to Nimrat, the kidnappers made several demands over the next seven days, including seeking the release of people who were in captivity in India. “There were some ridiculous demands. They demanded the release of other people who were in captivity in India, and other ridiculous demands that came up over a period of seven days,” she said.The actor and her family were in Kashmir at the time, visiting her father. Nimrat recalled that she, her mother and sister were initially staying in Verinag but were later shifted to Srinagar as the situation became increasingly unsafe. On the seventh day, the family received the devastating news that Major Bhupender Singh had been killed.Nimrat also recalled what she had learned about her father’s final conversations with his captors. “He told them that, ‘I have a family, I have two girls.’ I know that he was thinking of us in his last thoughts. That was all that I think he would have wanted to come back to.”For Nimrat, the sudden nature of the loss meant there was never any real closure. “I saw my father leave for work that morning. I just remember him leaving and then, after that, the next time I saw him was in a coffin. So, there is no closure there,” she said.Decades later, she admitted that the passage of time has not diminished the pain for her family. “It’s a strange feeling even after all these years because, technically, you feel like it’s been so long. It’s been a few decades, but nothing quite repairs that. Not for my mom, not for my sister, not for me, and not for the rest of the family.”The ‘The Lunchbox’ actor also spoke about the remarkable resilience of her mother, who raised two daughters after losing her husband at a young age. “I really feel like the way my mother has brought us up and the way she has rebuilt her life and rebuilt our lives after that, I don’t know of many women who would be able to do that single-handedly and so respectfully and in such a dignified way,” she said.Following Major Bhupender Singh’s death, Nimrat, her mother and sister moved to Noida, where her maternal grandparents lived.
