As Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa get married, here’s a look at their Bollywood love story

Their love story appears to be right out of a Bollywood romance, yet, as Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa tie the knot today amidst close family and friends in Chandigarh today, we take a trip down memory lane and relive their relationship.

The couple may have presented a picture perfect romance during their six-year courtship but that was not always the case. During the shoot of a talk show titled ‘Open House with Renil’, Rao admitted he was smitten by Patralekhaa from the first time he set eyes on her. “I first saw her in an advertisement on TV and found her to be the cutest girl ever,” said Rao. It was however not the same for Patralekhaa.

In 2019, the actress spoke about their love story in an interview with Humans of Bombay. “I saw him for the first time on-screen when I watched ‘LSD’ [‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’]. I thought that the weird guy he played in the film was actually what he was like,” Patralekhaa said. “My perception of him was already tarnished. He told me later, that he had first seen me in an ad and thought, ‘I’m going to marry her’. It was so ironic.”

It was only when she started chatting with him during a journey to Pune that she realised that he was so different from what she saw in the film. The couple finally got working together in ‘CityLights’ (2014) and there was no looking back. “Once we started working together, it was magic. The kind of passion he had was powerful. He would bring everyone along with him like a tornado. He made sure that not only him, but everyone did their best, and I couldn’t respect him any more than I did then,” Patralekhaa said in the same interview.

Patralekhaa said Rao and her connected when they started talking about “work, our love for cinema, our passion”. “I saw him through his struggles, never giving up. How could we not fall for each other? We wouldn’t officially go on dates, but we would go for long drives, movies, or even sit at home and eat our hearts out. We would even accompany each other for auditions — silently seeping in support. It’s all we needed — that understanding,” said the actress.

During their courtship, Patralekhaa said she was touched by his gestures. “He would often go out of his way for me. Once, he was running late to see me, so he stopped the cab near the airport and ran all the way to Juhu! Not only that, but when we were earning very little, he surprised me with my favourite bag, which was ridiculously expensive.”

She said they are “equal”, while adding: “I can tell you this, when you find someone you are grateful for — through the fights, the hurdles and the chaos, you should never forget to let them know you love them. And it doesn’t have to be with expensive gifts and dates — it can simply be with the way you hold them while they need it and when they don’t. For us, we don’t know what the future holds, but this, being together, is enough.”

Two years after that interview, the couple is set to tie the knot today in Chandigarh, a day after their white-themed engagement ceremony where Rao got down on one knee to slip a ring on to the finger of his ladylove, while Patralekha did the same on bended knee, before dancing the night away.