Vivek Oberoi reveals why he agreed to arranged marriage with Priyanka Alva, recalls flying to Italy and being smitten instantly

“My maasi (maternal aunt) met Priyanka’s maasi and said that your niece and my nephew would be perfect. Priyanka was somewhere in New York, studying her MBA at that time, and they (relatives) set everything up. My mother saw this, and she has seen enough of me saying ‘please don’t talk about it’ in the past. She had tried this in the past… She is looking at this photo, and I come home and see the picture and say ‘she is quite pretty’. Next thing I know is that she is telling me ‘you have to meet her’,” recalled Vivek.

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The actor continued, “I made a deal with her. I told her, ‘I will go and meet this girl but on the condition that you will stop all this’. She was like, ‘OK done’.

 

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At that time, Priyanka was in Florence, Italy, holidaying with her family. Vivek, who was riding high on the success of his Bollywood films like Saathiya and Yuva, confessed that he went to meet Priyanka without any intention of taking things forward, and planned on returning to Mumbai immediately.

Narrating his first meeting with Priyanka, Vivek said, “I was in a cafe, and I saw this girl walking in towards me. The first thing I noticed was that she was wearing flat chappals, simple linen pants, simple top, her hair tied up loosely with that stick and no make up. I was like ‘Waah confidence ki daat deni padegi‘. She is not dressed up, she just came and sat in front of me and said, ‘Hi, sorry I am 10 min late’.”

Vivek and Priyanka’s conversation put him in a trance, and the two kept talking for hours without realising the time. The actor had not only missed his return flight to India but was also smitten by her. He recalled dropping her to her hotel, where he ended up meeting the rest of her family.

The next day, Vivek pulled a Bollywood card to woo Priyanka. The actor continued, “So next day, I rented a convertible, put a nice jacket one, 11 am in the morning I was there. There she was, completely shocked to see me, and I said let’s go for a drive, and we took off and it was a day of just conversation and I don’t know what happened. At the end of the day, I dropped her home and I told her ‘Look, you are a lady, it’s your privilege to decide yes or no but if I am ever in my life going to get married its going to be with you. If I don’t marry you, I won’t get married at all. Rest is up to you. You take your time and decide’. And then I made my exit and that was it.”

Priyanka and Vivek got married on October 29, 2010 in Bengaluru. Together, they have two children, Vivaan Veer and Amerya Nirvana. The actor was recently seen in Rohit Shetty’s Indian Police Force, which was the filmmaker’s OTT debut.