"It's really sad when a broken marriage is turned into a soap opera..." is how a close family friend of the Kapoors rather succinctly described the current crisis in Karisma's life.

Ever since a TV news channel made public a private e-mail the distraught Karisma apparently sent to her husband, there has been a ricocheting pandemonium effect in the actress' life. Karisma can't understand the media's incessant curiosity about her marital break-up. Hasn't she ceased to be an actress, at least for now?

Who leaked out the e-mail to the press?

"It doesn't require Herculean sleuthing abilities to figure that one out," remarked the family friend wryly. "The timing of the leaked personal mail and the ensuing restraining order preventing Karisma from taking her baby out of the country cannot be two unrelated incidents. This is more than a coincidence."

A paranoiac conspiracy theory? Not quite! Some of Karisma's closest well-wishers are deeply concerned about the powers that would be exercised in the coming weeks and months to cow down a petrified and defeated estranged wife and single mother.

Kareena speaks on her family's behalf when she says: "We've been battered and cornered. What we need is prayers and compassion...and certainly not prying eyes trying to dissect every move we make."

Karisma herself is too distraught to talk. The sudden unexpected end of her paradise and the efforts to isolate and intimidate her through legal and surreptitious means have shattered her.

Even if Karisma was strong enough to stand tall and face the ugly storm headlong, she wouldn't have been able to make any categorical statements about the critical situation in her life. Her lawyers have forbidden her from coming out with any statement that could be used against her in a court of law.

And Karisma isn't willing to jeopardize her paternity potential in any way. The baby is now the central force in her life. For the first time, she has found a source of happiness, comfort and well-being that is separate from her career. She would happily give up all the fame and money that her career fetched her for the sake of her child.

Babita has brought up her daughters to be lionesses. Herself a fighter, she has made her way through her life as a mother without a male presence in her household. To see one of her daughters being threatened by an outside force is intolerable to this mother.

Chances are the fight for custody will culminate favourably for Babita's elder daughter. But right now, the situation seems fairly painful for the Kapoors.

Kareena says they'll fight it out. And they will no doubt emerge winners.