Actor Harsh Chhaya has spoken again about his divorce from actor Shefali Shah, saying separation is a personal matter and should not be treated as a taboo.
Shefali later married director Vipul Shah in 2000, while Harsh married Suneeta Sengupta in 2003.
Read Full StorySpeaking about divorce, Harsh said, "It is a very personal case-to-case kind of thing.
After parting ways with Harsh, Shefali married Vipul Shah in 2000.
Harsh married Suneeta Sengupta in 2003, and was recently seen in the web series Undekhi Season 4.
Actor Harsh Chhaya has spoken again about his divorce from actor Shefali Shah, saying separation is a personal matter and should not be treated as a taboo. In a recent interview with Lallantop, Harsh reflected on the end of their marriage, how he dealt with it, and said he went on multiple dates in the months after they parted ways.
Shefali and Harsh, who worked together on Zee TV's Hasratein, got married in 1994 and separated in 2000. Both have earlier described the split as a difficult phase in their lives. Shefali later married director Vipul Shah in 2000, while Harsh married Suneeta Sengupta in 2003.
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Speaking about divorce, Harsh said, "It is a very personal case-to-case kind of thing. Our case was very clear, I could see that the relationship was hitting a dead end. When I was told, 'I cannot stay with you anymore'; 8-9 months before that, I knew this was coming. I was prepared. For me, even though I know what is happening, at that moment I don't let it affect me mentally, so I focus on work, on myself, because I left Delhi and came to Mumbai for this. Personally, how one deals with it depends on them. I fortunately come from a space where I don't get shaken easily."
He also spoke about how he handled the period after the separation. Harsh said, "You need to try and stay sane when a situation like this comes; if you are uncomfortable, live with it, don't try to show yourself as strong. I lived with it for 5-6 months, regretted, shouted, etc. One day, I saw that you are under stress, everyone around you is willing to listen to your story and share their views. Once I spoke to someone, we discussed each other's issues, and later we went on a date; it happened a few times and I made it a formula. I went on multiple dates over 2-3 months. It takes time, you don't have to show your bravery, rather show what you are feeling."
Harsh said he does not see divorce as a big issue and spoke about the negative connotation attached to it. He said, "Two people can't stay together 24/7; I cannot live with my clone for 365 days. For me, divorce is not a big deal; in fact, if it has to happen, it should happen sooner rather than later, so the relationship is not dragged. When we decided, we got our application back-dated, declaring that we had been living separately for six months. We acted on it quickly."
This is not the first time Harsh has spoken about the separation. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan in 2024, he had said, "The separation was pretty tough. It is an old story now. 20-25 years have gone by. For me, it is a closed chapter." In an earlier interview with Hindustan Times, he had said, "It hurt. The separation didn't take me by surprise. I had seen it coming for almost eight months, and 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. After feeling bad and gathering enough sympathy for myself, I finally got out of it in six months."
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Shefali had also spoken about the marriage in a 2022 interview with Pinkvilla. She had said, "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, or sane. And after a point in time, you just realise what is better for you, what 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's just too bad. Why do people make hue and cry about it?"
After parting ways with Harsh, Shefali married Vipul Shah in 2000. They have been married for 25 years and have two sons, Aryaman and Maurya. Harsh married Suneeta Sengupta in 2003, and was recently seen in the web series Undekhi Season 4. Their separation, which both have described as difficult, continues to be something they speak about as a chapter from many years ago.
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