The marriage of actors Dileep and Manju Warrier, who had appealed for divorce last year, is finally over.
On Saturday morning, Ernakulam family court gave its approval for the couple's separation, thereby ending their 15 years long marriage.
Dileep–Manju Warrier's divorce is probably the most sensationalised and talked about celebrity news in Kerala. Both the actors had appeared before the Ernakulam family court on Thursday to formalise their separation and for the final counselling session where the actors gave their final decision to divorce.
However, both the stars did not appear in the court for the final verdict on Saturday. Manju had informed the court that she was fine with giving their daughter Meenakshi's custody to Dileep. The actress had earlier opened up about the divorce on her Facebook page. She had said that she is not interested in a tug of war for her daughter's custody.
Manju had also added that she knows how much her daughter loves her father and is sure that she will be happy and well-protected in his care. Dileep also agreed to the court that Manju can visit their daughter and be with her whenever she wants to.
It was on 24 July, last year that the celebrity coupl decided to call off their marriage. They had appeared in the family court in Kochi and filed a joint divorce petition. Since the legal formalities demanded counselling for six months, the couple had to wait for this period, which has now almost reached the end.
Manju was at the peak of her career when she got married to Dileep in 1998. Post marriage, she stopped acting in films and focused only on her family life.
Last year, she returned to the silver screen with "How Old Are You". It became a smashing hit. Now she is awaiting the release of a Sathyan Anthikkad directorial, which also has Mohanlal. She has also signed "Rani Padmini' with Aashiq Abu and another project with Joshiy.
Meanwhile, Dileep is continuing his success run and has nearly 15 movies in the queue.