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Monalisa Bhosle insists her marriage with co-star Farman Khan isn’t love jihad: ‘We got married as per Hindu rituals’

Monalisa Bhonsle, who shot to fame as a garland seller at Mahakumbh last year, has now tied the knot with boyfriend and co-star Farman Khan. They maintain that they respect all religions and have no plans of converting.

4 min readAhmedabad/thiruvananthapuramUpdated: Mar 12, 2026 07:59 PM IST

Monalisa Bhonsle married Farman Khan.

Monalisa Bhonsle, the 18-year-old viral sensation who shot to fame during the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, has tied the knot with her boyfriend, actor Farman Khan at Nayanar Temple in Arumanoor, near Poovar, Kerala. She approached the police in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on Wednesday seeking protection to stay with her boyfriend and marry him. On Thursday, at a press conference, she assured the media that this isn’t a case of love jihad as she hasn’t converted to Islam.

“We got married as per Hindu rituals. He didn’t want to marry me, but I only forced him to marry me,” said Monalisa, sporting sindhoor on her forehead. Farman, seated next to her, also assured the media that they respect each other’s religions and have no plans of converting. “We’re both artistes. We respect all religions. Neither of us has converted. I just want Mona Lisa to be happy. I love her. It’s not necessary to convert in love. All religions are equal,” he added.

After arriving at the Thampanoor police station, along with Farman and members of their film’s crew, she alleged that her father was trying to forcibly take her back to her hometown. She was in the Kerala capital as part of a film shooting, the police said. “My parents wanted me to marry someone else, but I didn’t like that guy. He’s my paternal aunt’s son. I can’t marry my cousin,” reasoned Monalisa.

She added that while her father accompanied her to Kerala, he isn’t entirely pleased with her marriage. “My father came here with me, but he didn’t attend the wedding. He knows about my wedding. He’s a little upset right now. He did meet me yesterday,” she said, adding, “All religions are the same to me.”

VIDEO | Monalisa Bhonsle, a young woman who shot to fame during the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela, tied the knot with her friend, a Muslim man, at a temple in nearby Poovar in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, hours after seeking police protection to evade the family’s pressure.

With a… pic.twitter.com/S26CkWZtgo

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 11, 2026

“She insisted that she won’t go with her father and made it clear that she is going to marry her boyfriend. As she is a major, she can act according to her choice,” a police officer told PTI. While there was confusion about whether she’s indeed a major, Farman and Monalisa put that to rest in the press conference, showing her birth certificate to the reporters, confirming that she’s just turned 18.

Under Indian law, the legal age of marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men, and adults are permitted to marry by choice without parental consent.

Indore girl Monalisa Bhonsle had shot to fame after a content creator shared a video of her selling rudraksh garlands at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh last year. Meanwhile, her husband Farman Khan belongs to the Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh. He’s an actor who works across Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil films. He claimed he’s about to start a new Malayalam film soon.

The couple connected through social media and later met on a film set. They dated for six months before tying the knot. “These six months were like sixty years of love. That’s why we decided to get married,” he said.

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Their wedding was attended by Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty, ruling CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan, Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim, and other prominent leaders of the Marxist party.

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Sivankutty told reporters at the wedding, “Marriage happens in heaven, and that heaven is Kerala. It is the real Kerala Story,” referring to Vipul Shah-produced controversial franchise The Kerala Story, which tells the story of Hindu women being converted to Islam after being lured by Muslim men. Monalisa and Farman lauded the police and the government of Kerala, hailing it as a state that “supports people beyond religion and caste.” She also plans to settle down in the South and pursue a career in Malayalam cinema.

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