Govinda was ‘merciless’ when he broke his engagement with Sunita because he was in love with Neelam: ‘I would tell Sunita to become like Neelam’

But what about Sunita Ahuja? Govinda and Sunita’s relationship was a secret to the folks in the film industry, including Neelam Kothari, but Sunita was well aware of the impact that Neelam had on him. He couldn’t stop talking about her, and his fondness for her was obvious. “I couldn’t stop praising her. To my friends, to my family. Even to Sunita, to whom I was committed. I would tell Sunita to change herself and become like Neelam. I would tell her to learn from her. I was merciless. Sunita would get irritated. She would tell me, ‘You fell in love with me because of what I am, don’t ever try to change me.’ But I was so confused. I didn’t know what to own,” he said in the same interview.

Govinda made his debut with Neelam in Love 86.

Govinda and Sunita’s relationship started even before he became an actor but as per his admission, he never intended to get involved with her seriously. He was “looking for a girl to go around with” and started dating her only because his brother suggested so. Govinda had to perform an intimate scene on camera but his awkwardness with women was obvious and so, he was told to start dating someone so he could “get some experience of romance.” “At that point in time, I met Sunita. I admit that my involvement with her was a totally calculated move on my part. And I paid a heavy price for it,” he said. Not just Sunita, he even admitted that he “played dirty” with Neelam as well as he tried to “exploit my personal relationship with Neelam for professional ends. I should have told her that I was married.”

At one point, Govinda realised that the “harm was done” and he tried to call off his engagement with Sunita. When a fight broke between them, and Sunita brought up Neelam, an infuriated Govinda “called it quits” and asked Sunita to walk away. “I asked Sunita to leave me. I broke off my engagement with her. And had Sunita not called me after five days and coaxed me into it again, I would probably have married Neelam.” Such was his love for Neelam that he planned on marrying her. He added, “I wanted to marry her. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Govinda was engaged to Sunita when he fell in love with Neelam. (Photo: Express Archives)

But, he eventually married Sunita and for him, this decision wasn’t made out of love but because he felt that it was his duty. “Just because I had fallen in love elsewhere, I couldn’t overlook my commitment towards Sunita. If there was no sense of duty in a man, this would go on,” he said. He also realised that Neelam would have probably never married him as she was quite focused on her career. “She wanted an intelligent, well-to-do, good-looking man as a husband. And I was anything but that. She belonged to the upper strata and I was a dehati, coming from a lower-middle-class family. We were poles apart in every way. We probably would never have been successful as a married couple. And maybe, Neelam realised that,” he said.

Neelam, however, said that there was never any romance between them. She told Hauterrfly in 2024, “I think link ups was part of the whole game. There was no one to clarify. They just printed whatever they felt like and to be honest I feel like in those days we were scared of the press. Because it was the power of the pen and it was just part of it. If you did more than 2-3 films, it was just understood that… (you were dating).”

ALSO READ | Sunita accepted she’s insecure that Govinda might have an affair, opened up about living separately: ‘He shouldn’t be my husband in next life’

In another chat with Radio Nasha, Neelam said that when she met Govinda, she did not know much Hindi and he couldn’t speak in English but despite this, they understood each other perfectly. “It was very funny seeing both of us interacting. He used to speak in Hindi, I used to speak in English, and somehow it was fine. He understood what I was saying and I understood what he was saying,” she said.

Neelam and Govinda appeared together in films like Love 86, Khudgarz, and Ghar Ka Chiraag.

From the homepage

US presses G7 countries to target India, China for ending Ukraine war

‘Guests will be sent to god’: Bomb threat sent to Delhi’s Taj Palace hotel; two hospitals get similar emails

Rape of Sikh woman in UK sparks outrage; ‘racially aggravated attack,’ say police