‘Parmeet Sethi was a red flag when we married’: Archana Puran Singh says he was unemployed, had lost his business, was depressed

‘Pandit asked us not to get married’

During the second episode of Archana’s new YouTube series ‘Pyaar Dosti Hai’, Parmeet and Archana sat down to talk about how money and financial turmoil shaped their relationship. Recalling the initial years of meeting Parmeet, Archana said, “In today’s Gen Z language, you were a red flag. People say that about guys who aren’t earning or aren’t settled. For a man, the woman being older was also a red flag. Our panditji said, ‘Looking at your kundli (birth chart), I would have advised you not to get married.’ He told us that we must have gone through a lot during the initial years.”

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Parmeet Sethi was crying when he called Archana after failure

Parmeet agreed with the priest’s evaluation and said that he couldn’t believe Archana stuck around after he lost his business and everything he had invested in it. He said, “I had started an export garment business, and I got a few good orders from Europe. I had set up the factory in Bangalore, and it was all going well, but suddenly all the orders got cancelled. All big brands suffered, and it all came crashing down for me. I remember calling you from an STD booth, and I was crying. My entire business was finished, and I asked you, ‘Mai kya karu (What should I do)?’ You just said, ‘Come back. ‘You gave me the support that not a lot of people would have done.”

‘I didn’t want a struggler as a husband’

Parmeet added, “I was completely depressed at that time, and I never used to get out of my bed. I remember that one of your producers came and you told him, ‘Leave the cheque, and if it passes, only then will I give you the dates for shooting.’ Looking at that, I thought, ‘This is a pretty good business.’ In my business the money used to come months later, if at all. I realised that this (acting) is a business where you have to sell yourself, and that I knew how to do. So I decided to become an actor.”

Archana added, “I always asked God that may all my problems be financial. Because you can deal with those problems, but what happens when someone goes away or something happens to someone? Still to this day, I wish the same. I mean, recently we had a major financial loss, and you told me, ‘You asked for this.’ But at that time I told you, ‘Bittu (Parmeet), it’s a financial problem; at least the both of us are together.'”

The actor admitted that she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of Parmeet trying out acting. He interjected and said, “You said to me, ‘I don’t want a struggling boyfriend.'” Archana nodded along and said, “I thought you couldn’t become an actor because you were very introverted. You wouldn’t even crack jokes, and this was my limited thinking. If I felt that you had talent, I would have never said no, but I am glad you never listened to me. I never really thought about you not earning, because I thought, ‘I am earning, so what’s the problem?’ That was the thinking – that it didn’t matter whether the guy or girl was earning.”