How did love happen to you with your wife Pooja Malik?
I started seeing my wife started when I was in high school and she was in class 8. We had an early marriage and we are happily married for 14 years now.
What qualities do you like the most in your partner?
My life partner is very understanding and supportive. Love means understanding the needs of that special someone in your life. Due to my hectic shoot schedule, I am able to meet only 4-5 days every month yet she supports me completely.
How important is it to have a loving mate in your life?
I feel that the way it is important for a blind man to have eyesight, the same way it is important to have love in life. Love does not mean showering material gifts on your beloved. Genuine love transcends outer beauty of a person because youthful looks tends to fade after a point of time. And when you grow old, it is your companion who will stay with you forever. Also, when you are depressed or are in a problem, your partner comes to your rescue by sharing your problems and thereby helping you find a solution. I truly believe in the old saying that behind every successful man, there is a woman.
How do you plan to celebrate this Valentine`s Day?
Although I have not decided what gift I will be giving to my wife on Valentine’s Day but I will make sure that express my love in a unique way.
The path of true love is not always a bed of roses. What advice would you like to give to those in love to help them overcome all adverse situations in their love life?
I believe that the chemistry between the two partners should be very strong. Before deciding to marry it is important to make sure that whether or not you share a good level of understanding with your partner. Otherwise, I think that if you are strong willed then you can overcome any odd situation.
- Resham Sengar
Who was your first crush?
Anytime Hrithik Roshan!
Are you single or in a relationship?
I am single till I am married.
Describe your ideal mate?
He should have all those qualities my father has.
How important is marriage for a relationship to survive in the long run?
I am very conservative and for me marriage is one of those institutions that I really believe in. I think if you are in a relationship, then an ultimate destination should be marriage. And if you are sure that you want to be with that person for the rest of your life, only then you should marry him/her.
Do you believe in the concept of live-in relationship?
I am fine with the idea of live-in relationship without any offense to the ones who are already living together. That said, personally I won’t prefer to go for a live-in relationship.
What are your plans for the Valentine`s Day this year?
I usually don’t have any special thing planned for the day and I have never celebrated this day. But sometimes I prefer watching a romantic movie.
Do you agree that there should only be one day of all the 365 days in a year to celebrate love?
No not at all. Any day you want to be with your loved one is a Valentine’s Day.
What is your idea of a perfect romantic night out?
I would prefer a simple sit down meal at home with my beloved.
How should one go about wooing you?
I don’t like chocolates or anything that I can afford. May be an island in my name would do.
-Resham Sengar
How important is it to have love in life?
Sameer: The importance of love in one’s life depends on how you define it and how much you care about a person. Life is about the pursuit of love and fulfilling it. Love is like a base camp for climbing Mt. Everest, but what matters is that you have someone to enjoy climbing Mt. Everest with. There is someone with whom you can share your achievements because without this life has no meaning.
Neelam: Love is one of the most important things for me in life. I could live on just love and fresh air.
Does love happen only once?
Sameer: No, I don’t think so. Love keeps on changing with age. The way I feel about somebody I don’t know if you can feel the same for something else but with age it will not be the same because love will keep on happening again and again and again.
Neelam: In case of special love, yes it does happen only once.
Describe your ideal date
Sameer: After a long day sitting with each other till late in the night and watching videos on YouTube or having an ice cream or chocolate would be an ideal date for me. For me it is all about spending quality time with each other and having “our space”.
Neelam: Had this question been asked 10 years ago I would have said candle light dinner, but as of now the ideal date to me comprises of movies, popcorn and chilling in bed, listening to music or playing games on my iPad.
Do you think it’s ok to set aside a single day for celebrating love?
Sameer: I don’t have a problem with the idea of setting aside a separate day to celebrate love. It is a nice concept and lazy people can get out and do something special on that day.
Neelam: I celebrate love all the time but as an occasion I have no problem with the idea.
-Mekhla Singh
How important is it to have love in life?
It is very important to have love in life. When we are born, we are loved by our parents, then as we start growing up we have friends who love us, then someone we like and marry, then we have our kids who also love us.
Does love happen only once?
It depends on the kind of love. Love is present in one’s life in the form of our family members like our mothers and sisters as well.
Describe your ideal date.
On a deserted island where my loved one will be by my side and we will sleep under the stars.
Do you think it’s ok to set aside a single day for celebrating love?
For me everyday is a celebration of love. I don’t need a particular day to celebrate my love.
-Mekhla Singh
How important is it to have love in your life?
Love is really important. And it’s not just a boyfriend or husband’s love. Be it your mother or your father – love is just really important. My whole family loves me a lot and I love them too. So my life is centred around love.
Your boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput recently commented on how understanding you are, especially given his hectic schedule off late. How do you manage being this understanding?
I believe understanding each other is an essential part of every relationship. If you love someone, you need to understand them too. I wasn’t always an understanding girlfriend. But over time I’ve seen how much Sushant loves me, and how much he takes care of me; he’s extremely understanding and supportive. So now it’s my turn to take care of him and support him even when I don’t get to spend as much time with him. I’ve learnt to become far more understanding.
Does love happen only once?
No. There is no real definition of love. Love is just a really important part of life. You love so many people: your father, your mother… Even before Sushant, I loved my family and now that he’s there I love him too.
I think even when it comes to boyfriends, people say love just happens once and you cannot love again, but that’s not true. When you are with someone, you really love that person; it’s not fake. But if that ends, there’s always the chance to love again, and people do really fall in love again.
Like I loved my dog – really loved him. And then he died. So I got myself a new dog, the same kind and with a similar look and now I love him also equally. So no, love isn’t just for one person and it doesn’t happen only once. Love can happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone.
What do you think about setting aside a special day to celebrate love?
Sushant and I, we love each other so much that we don’t need a particular day to love each other. Valentine’s Day is nothing to me.
When he comes he gets me roses and I love that. But if he doesn’t get me some gift for some ‘special day’, then I won’t feel bad at all. I’m not like some other girls who secretly want their boyfriends to get them something or they’ll get upset. Valentine’s Day really doesn’t have any significance for me. I love Sushant and he loves me and that’s what is important.
- Arya Yuyutsu
How important is it to have love in your life?
(Laughs) Ah, well, everything should be balanced. Love is, of course, important. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of all else. You shouldn’t neglect everything and everyone else just to focus on the one you love. Your friends and others are important too. It’s about striking a balance.
Do you believe love happens only once?
God no! Not at all! I’m doing a show called ‘Punarvivah’ which basically sends the message that you can fall in love again. So of course you can fall in love again. Even from personal experience I know that this is possible.
What’s your idea of an ideal date?
I don’t really know. I’ll have to think real hard on that one. But I do think that a girl asking a guy out or pushing a guy to propose is really cool. It doesn’t happen enough, to be honest. In fact it could be way cooler.
What do you think about setting aside a special day to celebrate love?
I think it’s all crap. There shouldn’t be a special day for this. There’s father’s day, mother’s day, children’s day… It’s all unnecessary, these special days set aside for things or people. Only birthdays and anniversaries are fine. Otherwise, everyday should be special and each day should be a celebration of your father, your mother, your children and love. For the other 364 days do you not love your love? So no, I don’t believe in Valentine’s Day.
- Arya Yuyutsu
How important is love in your life?
Love is really important to me. It doesn’t matter what kind of love it is, be it for your parents or friends or colleagues even. I love everyone around me: my mother and father of course, then my co-actors, the cast…everyone. That special someone is also needed and that’s important too.
Does love only happen once?
Yes, love can only happen once. I really believe in that. I’m a huge SRK (Shah Rukh Khan) fan and his dialogues made me believe in falling in love. I’m quite the romantic so I believe in there being only one person for you.
What do you think about a special day being set aside to celebrate love?
We celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Children’s Day, Teacher’s Day, then why not a day for ‘love’ as well? Love is, after all, the most important thing in the world. So we should celebrate Valentine’s Day. Besides, when else can girlfriends and wives lootafy (take advantage of) their boyfriends or husbands? (laughs)
So should only guys get girls gifts, not vice versa?
Well, a girl can get something for a guy, but a guy absolutely must get his girl something sweet and wonderful. I’m talking materialistically here! (laughs) Yeah, guys must buy gifts on Valentine’s Day!
Describe your ideal date.
I don’t visualize these things. I don’t really have the time for it right now, to be honest. In fact I may even be shooting on Valentine’s Day this year. (thinks) Let’s see, good place, good music, lovely dinner, lots of sweet love-talks. I think that’s about it.
Chocolates or roses? (SRK ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ reference)
(laughs) I don’t eat chocolates. But roses… always!
- Arya Yuyutsu
How important is it to have love in life?
Yes, love is very important for me.
Does love happen only once?
No, I don’t think that love happens only once because love is not only for your wife it is for your family as well.
Describe your ideal date.
I am not as romantic as I look on television. However, once I did light 1000’s of candles in the entire house - from the bedroom to the balcony – when my wife returned home after 10 days of shooting for her daily soap, and then we enjoyed dinner together.
Do you think it’s ok to set aside a single day for celebrating love?
No, you just need to spend quality time with your special someone. According to me there is no specific special day because every day is special and this is what makes married life happy.
-Mekhla Singh
What, according to you, is the concept of love and romance?
Love for me is a very strong emotion. I feel love can always be there – and all kinds of love. It would mean meeting someone, being pampered by your lover and being together for a long, long time… love, for me, is that.
What do you look for in a partner?
The one quality I want the most in a partner is sensibility. She should be a wise woman rather than being a notorious kid (laughs)! I feel my lover should be mature and should let me have the privilege of being a kid!
In these times of work and crazy schedules, how important is a relationship for you?
It is very important. Any relationship is a huge responsibility and one shouldn’t get into it if one can’t fulfill all of that. More than the present, what a person needs to do is imagine life with his/her partner ten/twenty/thirty years down the line – the person should be present with him/her in every frame of life. Relationship, overall, is a big responsibility.
Any memorable Valentine’s Day incident that you’d want to share with us.
During my first year in college, I was dating a girl. And I wanted do get her a lot of roses for Valentine’s Day. Since roses are really expensive on February 14, I bought them on the 12th itself, hid them in my room and covered them with the bed-sheet. There were 200 red roses, and I kept sprinkling water on the sheet every hour… By the end of the day, the roses had bloomed completely and the petals began falling off. That left me really disheartened. So the next day, I got another 200 roses – nagged the florist to fit them into one bunch – and surprised my girlfriend! She was really happy… that is one memorable Valentine’s Day!
What is the real Anuj like- in a relationship – demanding, compromising?
I need a lot of pampering. I like intellectual people, someone with whom I can share opinions on every single subject. I’m that sort of a guy!
Any Valentine’s Day message for our readers!
Please find someone suitable for me (laughs)! Enjoy the day as much as you can. People might oppose celebrations, but enjoy the day!
- Ananya Bhattacharya