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

She said, “A lot of people said, ‘Kya kar rahi ho? You’re getting married to this (proceeds to mimic Ashutosh’s iconic hand gesture from the film Sangharsh)’. Some people were very worried for me. But I assured them that they should be worried for him. I’m capable of looking after myself. But it has been a great journey. To tell you frankly, marriage is a gamble, even if you’re in love. There’s no guarantee things will work out in your favour. People can grow in two different ways, and not get along as husband and wife. Or, people can be great friends, but not great partners.”

In addition to his onscreen image being a concern, she said that there is a massive difference between their families as well. While she was born and brought up in Mumbai, he hails from a large joint family that lives in a village. “With that kind of background, many people thought that we weren’t going to be compatible. In fact, a lot of people who were pretty close to us predicted that we’ll last only one month, or a year, and not more than that…” she said, adding that at the end of the day, the responsibility to make adjustments falls on the woman. “Whatever said and done, it is unfortunate, but the change and the adjustment is usually one way,” she said.

Renuka revealed that the wisest decision she made after marriage was to tell Ashutosh that she would prefer forming her own equation with his family members, and this helped her establish herself as an individual in their eyes. “Marriage suits both of us, we’ve been very complimentary to each other. We’ve been each other’s greatest strengths; we take each other for granted, we fall back on each other…” she signed off.

The couple tied the knot in 2001. Renuka was earlier married to theatre writer Vijay Kenkar. She was recently seen in the film Govinda Naam Mera, while Ashutosh appeared in Pathaan.