Zeeshan Ayyub says families were dead against interfaith marriage, they chose Special Marriage Act: ‘She wants to live as a Hindu, I as a Muslim’

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub married his wife Rasika Agashe in 2007. Though the couple prefers to keep their life out of the limelight, in a recent interaction Zeeshan opened up about the difficulties he and his wife faced when they decided to get married due to their different religions.

Speaking on The Sheroes TV, Zeeshan Ayyub talked about his love story with Rasika and said, “She and I met in NSD. She was my senior because she had cleared the entrance exam in first attempt, whereas I did so in my second attempt.”

Zeeshan recalled how they bonded during their time at NSD and found each other’s views interesting. However, their first date was far from ideal, as Rasika flew all the way to Mumbai to meet Zeeshan during the holidays. Meanwhile, he was an hour late for their first date. He admitted that he only left his friend’s place after Rasika had reached the meeting spot. “On our first date when she came to meet me in Mumbai, I was one hour late,” he shared.

But Zeeshan’s charm won Rasika over, and they soon decided to tie the knot. He said, “We became such good friends that we thought that we should get married. We love spending time with each other, and we got married in this phase of our relationship and nobody proposed to anyone. We just took our friendship forward.”

However, telling their parents about their decision wasn’t without its share of problems, and to escape the backlash from their families, they escaped to Goa. “The marriage had its own difficulties because it was a Hindu-Muslim marriage. To escape them, we ran to Goa for four days, and we decided not to speak to either of the families. We enjoyed those four days in Goa.”

ALSO READ | Palash Muchhal visits Premanand Maharaj as wedding with Smriti Mandhana remains postponed

As Zeeshan and Rasika rebelled to be together, their families eventually conceded. “We came back from Goa in September and got married. Luckily, both side of parents came to the wedding. So that 1-2 month period had a lot of to and fro that how will things be managed because these are two different religions.”

Story continues below this ad

He added, “We were very clear that we will get married under the Special Marriage Act. We don’t want religious interference in our marriage. We both can do whatever we want. If I want to live as a Muslim, then I won’t pressure Rasika and if she wants to live as a Hindu, she doesn’t have the pressure to abide by Muslim laws.”