Sunjay Kapur, Businessman and Ex-Husband of Bollywood Star, Dies at 53

New York Times

16 hours ago

Sunjay Kapur, a prominent Indian businessman and the former husband of the Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor, died on Thursday after participating in a polo match in Windsor, England. He was 53.
The cause was a 'sudden heart attack,' Sona Comstar, an automotive components manufacturer based in India, where Mr. Kapur was the chairman, said in a statement. Guards Polo Club said on Instagram on Friday that Mr. Kapur had been playing in a match on its Smith's Lawn when he appeared to become unwell.
A wealthy industrialist and the owner of the Aureus polo team, Mr. Kapur had traveled to England to compete in polo matches this summer. Guards Polo Club is known for its close association with Britain's royal family: its current president is King Charles III, who succeeded his father, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince William is a regular.
Mr. Kapur took over leadership of Sona Comstar, an automotive company founded by his father, Surinder Kapur, in 2015 and helped drive its expansion as a global supplier of automotive components and systems for electric vehicles and other types of cars. Based in Gurugram, India, just southwest of New Delhi, the company has more than 4,600 employees and factories across India, China, Mexico and the United States.
In a social media post on Thursday, Mr. Kapur paid tribute to the victims of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, India, that killed more than 250 people.
In 2003, Mr. Kapur married Karisma Kapoor, one of the leading Bollywood actresses at the time, in a Sikh ceremony in Mumbai that received breathless coverage from local news outlets and tabloids. The couple had a daughter, Samaira, and a son, Kiaan.
The couple divorced in 2016. A previous marriage to Nandita Mahtani, an Indian fashion designer, also ended in divorce.
Mr. Kapur married Priya Sachdev, a model, in 2017. She survives him along with their son, Azarias. His other survivors include a daughter, Samaira, and a son, Kiaan, from his marriage to Ms. Kapoor.
Sunjay Kapur was born on Oct. 15, 1971. He attended schools in India and held a degree from the University of Buckingham. The Doon School, a boarding school in Dehradun, India, that he attended as a child, said on social media that Mr. Kapur had held positions on its governor's board and other committees.
'A passionate fitness and sport enthusiast and a learner for life, he worked to make polo more accessible beyond its traditional roots,' the school said.