Filmmaker Farah Khan recently visited actor Neelam Kothari’s home along with her longtime cook, Dilip. During the visit, Farah, Neelam and actor Sameer Soni bonded over how similar their husbands are when it comes to social gatherings. The trio joked about how both Sameer and Farah’s husband, Shirish Kunder, have a habit of quietly walking out of parties, with Sameer even recalling the time Shirish skipped Farah’s birthday because it wasn’t a “milestone” celebration.
As Farah toured Neelam’s home, she pointed to a seating area and jokingly asked, “You sit in this hall and Sameer in the other one?” Defending their arrangement, Neelam laughed, “Opposites attract.” Farah replied, “This is the best.” “We just cross paths,” Neelam added.
Quipping about the similarities between the two men, Farah said, “The other version of Sameer is at my place,” referring to Shirish. Sameer laughed and responded, “I am aware of that. He didn’t even come to your birthday.” Farah defended her husband, saying, “Because it was not a milestone birthday.”
Talking about Farah’s famous house parties, Neelam recalled, “We have always had a blast on your terrace.” Farah quickly added, “Yeah, but not with Shirish.” Sameer chimed in, “I am like Shirish. I am his duplicate. I just have shorter hair.”
Neelam revealed, “Whenever my friends come over, Sameer just goes inside his room.” Laughing, Sameer said, “I really haven’t met him in a long time.” Farah’s witty response left everyone in splits. “Nor have I!” she joked before quickly clarifying, “No, that’s not true. I meet him every day. You never know, people will make this the headline.”
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Neelam admitted, “I need Sameer on and off.” Farah responded, “I do get to see Shirish at home.” “The wife is always right,” Sameer remarked. “Sirish never tells that to me,” Farah laughed.
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Neelam then shared that before every social gathering or shoot, she folds her hands and requests Sameer not to say anything inappropriate. “I have become very infamous for this,” Sameer admitted.
Farah defended him, saying, “That’s because Sameer is a very straightforward person.” “That’s the problem,” Neelam laughed. “There is no filter. He doesn’t care. He says what he wants and then walks out.” Farah recalled watching the same behaviour on The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. “I could understand because Shirish does exactly the same,” she said. “But that was Sameer in Season 1. In the later seasons, he became better.”
Neelam agreed but remembered another incident. “He did become better, but during Bhavana and Chunky’s wedding vows ceremony, he walked out again.” Sameer added, “Farah, I don’t know if you remember, but we both left.” Farah burst into laughter and said, “I do remember. Who would want to see Bhavana and Chunky take their vows again?” She then joked, “I made appearances for free,” before once again adding, “I completely understand Sameer because I have one exactly like him at home.”
Neelam and Sameer open up about their love story
The conversation later shifted to Neelam and Sameer’s relationship. Neelam recalled, “I went to watch Sameer’s play Anything But Love. I told Ekta that he looked cute and was very well-spoken. Ekta then played cupid and went and told him about our conversation.”
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Farah pointed out that she too had played a small role in their love story. “I had gone as a guest host on Bigg Boss. I think Sameer was so fed up with the show that he told me, ‘I miss Neelam a lot.'”
Neelam added, “He came out of the Bigg Boss house and proposed to me.” Curious, Farah asked, “How did he propose?” “Nothing romantic,” Neelam replied with a laugh. Sameer explained, “We had been seeing each other for four years. Our relationship was very on and off. Every five days we would fight and decide we couldn’t be together, and then five days later one of us would call the other to check in. We had tentatively decided to get married in December, but then I got the call for Bigg Boss. I entered the house in September.”
“They were deliberately pairing me up with all the single girls inside the house. I freaked out because I was supposed to get married. As a precaution, I publicly announced inside the house that I had a girlfriend.” Recalling his experience on the reality show, Sameer added, “I did not feel safe in the Bigg Boss house. Sometimes Dolly Bindra would hit me with a stick, other times Khali would push me. That’s when I realised I wasn’t going to find a better girl than Neelam.”
Ending on a humorous note, he said, “She fights and even beats me, but she’s pretty, so all of that can be managed.”
Filmmaker Farah Khan with her husband, Shirish Kunder. (Photo: Farah Khan/Instagram)