Ashutosh Rana opens up about his love story with Renuka Shahane, recalls initial flirtations, was sure marriage wouldn’t last ‘two days’

Ashutosh Rana opened up about his love story with Renuka Shahane, and revealed the exact moment that she realised she'd fallen in love with him.

Ashutosh Rana and Renuka Shahane tied the knot in 2001. (Photo: Renuka/Instagram)

Actor-couple Ashutosh Rana and Renuka Shahane’s marriage has stood the test of time. Ashutosh recently shared the story of how their love blossomed, along with some interesting stories from their courtship. Renuka and Ashutosh first met at Hansal Mehta’s movie preview. Although the film didn’t see the light of day, it led to their fortunate first encounter.

Ashutosh then sought Renuka’s contact from director Ravi Rai, who gave him express instructions about how to communicate with her. Ashutosh was told that he must not contact Renuka after 9 pm, and that he must leave her a message on an answering machine. On the pretext of wishing her on Dussehra, he got his hands on Renuka’s landline, and left her a message on her answering machine. She responded by leaving a message with his sister, and soon shared her mobile number with him, leading to a friendship that blossomed entirely over the phone for several months.

In an interview with The Lallantop, Ashutosh said that despite the warnings, he called Renuka at 10 at night and she fortunately picked up. “I called her at 10 p.m, that too on her mobile and we talked for another 1.5 hours. The next day I called her at 11 p.m and we talked again. We never met, but we became phone friends. Our friendship grew. We started talking three times a day. One more thing, she doesn’t like poetry at all and I love poetry.”

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He said that he was skeptical about proposing to Renuka because he did not want to lose the friendship. He said, “If I propose and if there is nothing from her side, then I will lose the friendship too. And I didn’t want to lose her as my friend. For the first time I wrote a poem about love and I recited it to her. She said, ‘Listen Rana ji, I think I am in love with you.’ I said, ‘Okay, you come, we will sit and talk’.”

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After dating for three years, Ashutosh said that he made the decision to propose to her because his father insisted. He said, “We didn’t want to get married. We wanted to stay committed as friends. I thought I will change after marriage. But fortunately, that did not happen.”

Also read | Renuka Shahane says people predicted her marriage with Ashutosh Rana would last only 1 month, admits onus to make adjustments is on a woman

He said that when his father suggested that he tie the knot with Renuka, Ashutosh replied by saying that the marriage wouldn’t last two days because of their differing beliefs. However, after talking to his father and after a lot of convincing, he finally proposed to her. He went to Renuka’s house and said, “I have a request. I want to get married to you. Will you’?”

Ashutosh said that 1.5 lakh people attended the wedding, and it was a grand affair. The couple has been married for more than 23 years and they have two children.

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