Manoj Bajpayee says love is difficult, reveals how he fell for wife Shabana Raza: ‘She was at Hansal Mehta’s party with oiled hair…’

Manoj Bajpayee says love is difficult and one can only have a long, solid marriage if one lets go off their ego and arrogance. The actor is married to Shabana Raza, and they have a daughter together as well.

By: Entertainment Desk

Mumbai | March 26, 2023 04:24 PM IST

3 min read

Manoj Bajpayee with wife Shabana. (Photo: Manoj/Instagram)

We all know Manoj Bajpayee is an excellent actor, but how is Manoj in the romance department? The actor thinks his romance is as subtle as his performances. Manoj feels he’s not the conversational, filmy romantic person and that reflected even in the way he fell in love with his actor wife Shabana Raza, better known by her screen name Neha.

Bajpayee and Shabana got married in 2006 and are parents to a daughter. In an interview to Humans of Bombay, Bajpayee was asked how is he as a romantic partner, to which the actor replied, “I am not at all a romantic person, not a very filmy romantic person. Because that’s how we define romance– how a hero woos a heroine. I am not that kind of romantic. My romance is as subtle as my performances.”

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The Family Man star narrated how Shabana and him came together and said for the couple, it was “love at first sight”. The duo first met at Hansal Mehta’s Khana Khazana’s 100th episode party, where he was in awe of her. “To my luck, she loved spending that evening with me. I was completely mesmerised. Not only with her beauty but also with the fact that she was there with oiled hair, in such a big party and didn’t care about what others are going to say!

“The real person inside her really impressed me more than her beauty. We kept talking everyday, then we started meeting. We never had to say to each other that I love you and you love me. Nothing of that sort. Our love story has been very, very different. It is not a filmy one where you take a girl on a candlelight dinner, look into her eyes and say, ‘I love you! You mean the world to me’ no, nothing like that (happened).”

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Bajpayee said for any healthy relationship, it’s crucial that the equation is deep, well rounded and not just based on the exchange of I love yous. “There are other things which should match. Your politics, ideas about life, values, integrity. These are the things which are far more important than I love you and you love me.”

The actor, when asked what advice would he give to newly married couples, said, “Love is difficult. It is very difficult. You have to shed off your ego, your arrogance, and everything about yourself. Only then can you stay for long in a solid relationship called marriage.”

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