Actress Nimrat Kaur recalls father's death in Kashmir in 1994 : 'Terrorists kidnapped him, 7 days later killed him'

Behind Nimrat Kaur’s powerful screen presence lies a deeply personal story of sacrifice and resilience. The acclaimed actor, known for her roles in The Lunchbox, Airlift, and Dasvi, is the daughter of the late Major Bhupender Singh, a brave army officer who lost his life in a terrorist attack in Kashmir in 1994. As conversations around national security and terrorism resurface, so has a past interview in which Kaur recalled the painful memories of that winter, shedding light on the devastating personal cost of service to the nation.

In an interview with ETimes, Major Singh was serving in Verinag, a region nestled in Kashmir’s border road network. Though Kashmir wasn’t designated a family station at the time, Kaur and her family were visiting him during their winter vacation in January 1994 when tragedy struck. He was abducted by the terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen from his place of work. After seven harrowing days, he was killed, a loss that would forever alter the course of Kaur’s life.

The terrorists, according to Kaur, had issued unreasonable demands related to the release of captured individuals, demands that Major Singh would not concede to. He was only 44 when he died. The family, who had continued living in Patiala during his deployment, flew back to Delhi with his body.

In the aftermath, she made a personal decision never to return to the Valley. However, years later, following the screening of The Lunchbox at the Cannes Film Festival, Kaur chose to revisit Verinag. It was a poignant attempt to find some form of emotional closure in the place where she had last seen her father alive.

Major Bhupender Singh was posthumously awarded the Shaurya Chakra, one of India's highest military and civilian gallantry honours. Fittingly, the recognition was bestowed on March 13, Nimrat Kaur’s birthday.

On her late father’s 72nd birth anniversary, Nimrat Kaur, along with her mother and sister, inaugurated a memorial in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, honouring Major Bhupender Singh and 12 other martyrs from the region. The tribute, a dream 30 years in the making, was realised with support from local authorities and army personnel. Kaur expressed deep pride at commemorating her father’s legacy in his birthplace.


Nimrat Kaur's work
She recently starred in Kull: The Legacy of the Raisingghs, which is avaialble for streaming on JioHotstar. She has Section 84 in the pipeline.