Kundra reveals that he shut down many of his businesses ever since he got embroiled in this controversy. “I decided I don’t want to do something for some time. I am finding myself again, I got lost in this Tsunami which came into my life. I was a hardcore investor, who had invested hundreds of crores into the IPL team Rajasthan Royals years back. The last company I shut down, 4000 people were left to fend for themselves, there’s nothing I could do,” he quips. He adds he’s been at home for the last two years, “I joked with Shilpa that she is making more money than I am. From giving thousands of jobs, I suddenly became enemy number one. It makes you feel s**t, from a family man, you are called the bad boy of the country,” adds Kundra.

Did he see the content available on the app? “I had seen some of it, but I never had any reason to believe that anything’s (porn) there... We provided software solutions and it was contractual. Today, when you shoot porn, you won’t have contracts between two people. You will say, ‘Chup-chaap banao and upload it’,” he shares.

His two-month-long prison time was tough and Raj admits he sought help after coming out to regain his mental sanity. “I didn’t want to, but I was a wreck. Shilpa insisted I meet a therapist. In my sleep, I would hear 250 people murmuring all night, because in jail you sleep in noise. I lost 17 kg in 60 days. The anxiety killed me. But Shilpa was my calming factor,” says Raj.

Ask if the tough phase impacted his 14-year-long marriage with actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra? “It (the phase) was horrible. But luckily, we know each other so well. If someone told me something about her, I know how much to believe. She broke into laughter when she heard about the case and said it’s not true. We are both self-made. She knew it’s rubbish, but maintained her silence and dignity. Unfortunately, she had to bear the brunt of my involvement in the matter by losing certain contracts and work on television. I found that unfair.”

Raj gets emotional when asked how his kids handled the phase. “Viaan asked what was happening, so Shilpa told him, ‘There are hundreds of questions dad has to answer. Once he does, he will be back’. Viaan was 10. Shilpa spoke to someone at his school; God knows what parents were telling their children. But he is a strong kid. He would draw something and send it to me with a letter when I was in jail. He would write, ‘Papa, missing you. Come back soon, finish your work’. The first two-three weeks he was fine. Then, on my birthday, September 9, 2021, he broke down. I sobbed a lot.”