Actor Vinny Arora Dhoopar was just 18 when she met actor Dheeraj Dhoopar and she admits it was “love at first sight” for her. “As much as I hated that term, because I felt that was a very shallow thing say or feel as appearances aren't everything and I'm not the one who falls for good looks, it clearly happened. And I loved it because he's also the man that he is,” Vinny Arora Dhoopar shares, as she and Dheeraj Dhoopar reminisce their love story for our Valentine’s Day special series.
However, Dheeraj reveals that he took his sweet time to reciprocate. “I used to like her a lot, but I always kept it like she's a very good friend of mine who's taking care of me. She became someone who I was totally dependent on when I came to Mumbai in my initial years. I didn't have a car or my home and she used to pick me up for the shoot and then drop me off, and get me the home cooked food. She used to take care of me and it was quite later that she told me the secret was that she was in love with me. But once we had a fight and we were not speaking to each other, then I realised I'm in love with her too.”
Having been together for 15 years now, Dheeraj admits that while he took his time, once it started, it began on a more permanent note: “I was very clear from the very first time I told her that I like her, that this is about marriage. It was never something like we will date for next six months or one year and then see how it goes, and take it forward. I couldn’t think of a life without her ever since we started dating. I could not think beyond this life which I had. I was and am so dependent on her emotionally.”
{{/usCountry}}Having been together for 15 years now, Dheeraj admits that while he took his time, once it started, it began on a more permanent note: “I was very clear from the very first time I told her that I like her, that this is about marriage. It was never something like we will date for next six months or one year and then see how it goes, and take it forward. I couldn’t think of a life without her ever since we started dating. I could not think beyond this life which I had. I was and am so dependent on her emotionally.”
{{/usCountry}}And even though she was the one who fell in love first, Vinny admits she didn’t confess her feelings first, and it actually was a good thing. “I liked him but I'm not saying things first or being over and trying to woo him or anything, that's why he didn't know it. I was too shy. We laugh about it now, because all our friends say that he didn't know but all of them did. It was apparently on my face, but I didn't really do anything. Thankfully, that worked for me because he's been immature when it comes to attention. So if I had told him then that there was something in my heart, he might have probably disregarded it. It gave him the time to have his own feelings.”
The couple asserts that becoming parents to son Zayn has brought them even closer. “We always tell our friends and family that we were prepared for it. When we got Oreo (their pet dog), he taught us what it is like to have a baby, and the emotional thing was already there. And parenthood is a great time for a couple. When you create something together with someone you love, it just brings you together,” they both agree.
Ask them why they want to be each other’s forever valentine, and pat says Dheeraj, “There is no one better for us.” While Vinny ends on the perfect note: “I fell in love at 18 with a prince charming, got married, had kids, so I think this is definitely a modern fairytale and I want to keep it like that.”