Govinda is still known as the king of comedy, a spectacular dancer, an actor, who can make you laugh and cry and his colourful costumes are still a style staple. He was born on December 21, 1963, to the actor, Arun Kumar Ahuja and actress, Nirmala Devi. The actor is fondly called ‘Chi Chi’ as it is his pet name. While for the nation, Govinda is one legendary actor, for his wife, Sunita Ahuja, he is a loving husband.
Sunita and Govinda’s married life has seen many ups and downs, but the one thing that remained constant is that the two always managed to save their relationship. From Govinda being linked with several actresses to issues about troubles in their lives hitting the headlines, the two always rise above it all.
advertisement
Here, we have for you, one of the sweetest love stories that you will ever come across. Scroll down to read the love story of Govinda and Sunita Ahuja.
Sunita Munjal's elder sister is married to Govinda's maternal uncle, Anand Singh. In his struggling days, Govinda stayed with his uncle for three years. Sunita would often visit her sister and jiju. Since Sunita and Govinda were both young, they used to fight like two crazy people. The reason behind these fights was their opposite personalities. While Govinda was a humble man, who liked everything desi, he had found Sunita to very unfriendly. The way she used to dress up and carry herself, had made him think of her as a cunning person.
It was their love for dancing that bought them together. Govinda's uncle would often encourage them to have dance competitions to which Sunita would reply in disapproval as Govinda was from the small town, Virar, while she belonged to the high society. Finally, after a lot of fights, love began to blossom between them. According to Sunita, Govinda is a very emotional person and this helped her a lot in their transition from fighters to lovers. Soon, the love letters started to fly away and Sunita's brother was the designated postmaster.
Continue reading below
In an interview with ETimes, Govinda’s best half, Sunita Ahuja had opened up about falling in love with him when she was just 15. Revealing her love story, Sunita had said:
“I used to stay at my sister’s house and my jijaji was Govinda’s mama. So Govinda stayed with my sister for three years and it was there that I met him for the first time. When we were young, we used to dance together, and my jijaji would also encourage us. We started dating and I was married at the age of 18, Tina was born when I was 19. If you ask Govinda, he will say Sunita got me in this child marriage.”
As Govinda and Sunita used to send love letters to one another, one day, one of the love letters got caught by Sunita's mother. Interestingly, in that letter, Sunita had written that she wanted to get married to Govinda as soon as possible. Also, Govinda's mother, Nirmala Devi, was very fond of Sunita. She had instantly foretold Govinda that one day he will marry Sunita only.
Though the couple had blessings from the elders to get married, their wedding was a secret affair. Govinda was suggested by his friends and well-wishers in the industry that if he would reveal his marital status in public, his female fan following will shatter, which is not a good idea for someone, who is at the peak of his career. Govinda trusted their instincts and kept his marriage a secret for a very long time. Govinda and Sunita's marriage was a love-cum-arranged marriage. Govinda and Sunita had gotten married on March 11, 1987. While Govinda was only 24 years when he had tied the knot, his wife, Sunita was 18. Well, the fun fact about Govinda’s wife is that she is half-Nepali as Sunita was born to a Punjabi father and a Nepali mother, but she doesn’t have Nepali citizenship.
Govinda and Sunita have two kids, one daughter, Narmmadaa Ahuja, and a son, Yashvardhan Ahuja. Narmmadaa was born on July 16, 1988, and is fondly known as Tina and is an actress by profession. Yashvardhan was born in 1997 and is preparing himself for Bollywood. While these two kids of Govinda and Sunita are well known, not many know that they also had a daughter, who had died when she was 4 months old as she was a premature baby. In a conversation with The Times Of India, while talking about the tragedies in his life, Govinda had revealed about his premature baby and had said:
“I have seen 11 deaths in my family, including my first daughter who died when she was four months as she was a premature baby and my mother, my father, my two cousins, my jija and my sister. Then their companies had shut down, so they had no work. All their kids were brought up by me. There was a lot of emotional and financial pressure.”
Other than being an actor, Govinda was also a politician as he had joined Congress Party, but had left politics in 2008 for the sake of his acting career. On the other hand, his wife, Sunita is a homemaker by profession. His net worth is estimated to be around $20 million which roughly translated to Rs 146 crores.
Govinda regrets that he had to keep his marriage a secret because he was afraid that his career will be sabotaged. On the occasion of their 25th anniversary, Govinda and Sunita had decided to re-marry each other by following all the rituals. It was Govinda's mother, Nirmala Devi's last wish that he gets married to Sunita again. In a conversation with Bollywood Hungama, Govinda had said:
"It was my mother's wish that I re-marry Sunita, only when I reach the age of 49. My mother had specified that Sunita and I can go through a sampoorna vivah (complete wedding) only after 25 years of our togetherness. So we had just gone through a formal Gandharva Vivah back in 1987. I completed 49 in December 2014 and in January we went through a full-fledged wedding."
In a conversation with The Times Of India, Sunita had talked about re-marrying Govinda and had said:
"It was better than the first time. Twenty five years ago, Govinda was at the peak of his career. Those days, it was believed that marital status affects the fan following of a star and hence, we had kept out marriage a secret for the longest time. I remember we only announced the wedding after our daughter Narmmadaa was born. This time around, I was more excited as it was not chup chup ke. It was his idea. His close friend Faisal made all the arrangements and his friends insisted that we do it in London. Havan, pheras, sindoor, mangalsutra...everything happened as per the rituals"
You May Also Like: Kumar Sanu's Controversial Love Life: Affairs With Many Famous Bollywood Heroines And 2 Marriages
Govinda was linked with many actresses but his alleged love stories with Neelam Kothari and Rani Mukerji had affected his relationship with his wife, Sunita Ahuja the most. Here is the story of Govinda’s affairs!
Govinda was madly in love with his Ilzaam co-star, Neelam Kothari as it was their debut movie. Govinda was smitten by the actress the moment he had seen her for the first time. In an old interview with the Stardust Magazine, Govinda had professed his undying endearment for the actress, which he had referred to as pure love and not lust! Recalling their first meeting in Pranlal Mehta’s office, Govinda had stated:
“I remember the first time I met her. At Pranlal Mehta’s office. She was wearing white shorts. Her long hair falling straight, like an angel’s. ‘Hello’ she said politely, and I was scared to reply because my knowledge of English was embarrassing. It still is. And I wondered how I would communicate with her on the sets. I had never imagined I would work with her. She was a distant dream. I had seen her in ‘ Jawani’, and seen the film again and again only to see her.”
Govinda had even tried to mould his then-girlfriend, Sunita like Neelam and would often ask her to become like Neelam, which invariably enraged Sunita. He had said:
“I couldn’t believe that such a young girl, even after attaining so much name, fame and wealth, could be so simple and down-to-earth. I couldn’t stop praising her. To my friends, to my family. Even to Sunita, to whom I was committed. I would tell Sunita to change herself and become like Neelam. I would tell her to learn from her. I was merciless. Sunita would get irritated. She would tell me, ‘You fell in love with me because of what I am, don’t ever try to change me’. But I was so confused. I didn’t know what to own.”
He had also mentioned the instance when he had broken off his engagement with Sunita because she had said something about Neelam during one of their fights. Govinda had described,
“After I started getting busier, my relationship with Sunita went through a change. She began feeling insecure and jealous. And I was of no help. She would nag me and I would lose my temper. We had constant fights. In one of those fights, Sunita said something about Neelam, and I lost my head and called it quits. I asked Sunita to leave me. I broke off my engagement with her. And had Sunita not called me after five days and coaxed me into it again, I would probably have married Neelam.”
Govinda had confessed that Neelam was an ideal girl, whom every guy visualises for in a life partner, and he had wanted to marry her. He had further said:
“Yes, I wanted to marry her. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I feel love and hatred are two emotions over which a man has no control. If you love somebody and they reciprocate, there’s nothing one can do about it. It is instinctive. What is under our control is our sense of duty and commitment. Neelam was the ideal girl, the kind every man visualises for a life-partner. The kind of girl I wanted. But that was getting emotional. There was another practical side. Just because I had fallen in love elsewhere, I couldn’t overlook my commitment towards Sunita. If there was no sense of duty in a man, this would go on. Leave one for another and another for another…”
On playing dirty with Neelam by not telling her about his marriage with Sunita till one year, Govinda had acknowledged:
“In the meantime, my mother wanted me to officially marry Sunita – we’d had one ceremony in the mandir. For that matter, we were husband and wife. But I had not disclosed publicly my marriage to Sunita because I felt it would affect my career. Neither did Neelam know about it. She got to know only after a year. I probably did not tell her because I did not want to break this successful screen pair. And to be honest, to a certain extent, I did exploit my personal relationship with Neelam for professional ends. I played dirty with her. I should have told her that I was married.”
Govinda was the leading man of the industry in the late 90s when he had met young Rani Mukerji on the sets of their first film, Hadh Kar Di Aapne. The two had bonded well during the film's shooting in abroad locations like Switzerland and the US. According to various reports, the two had come quite close and had started being in touch after the wrap. Soon, reports of Govinda having an extra-marital affair with Rani had become the talk of the town. But everything had changed into a scandal when a renowned journalist had allegedly caught Govinda with Rani in a hotel's room. The news had broken the headlines and had left the actor's wife, Sunita Ahuja shocked to the core of her heart.
It was a tormenting time for Sunita Ahuja, to read and hear about her husband, Govinda's extra-marital affair with Rani Mukerji. The media was bringing new details about Rani and Govinda's affair every other day, and that's when a throwback interview of Rani had played the part of fuel in the wildfire in Govinda's marital life. In the throwback interview with Bollywood Googly, Rani had called Govinda a great 'hamdard'. Her statement could be read as
"The press has always assumed that any heroine who works with Govinda in three or four films is having an affair with him. I am not the first one to be linked with him. I know just one thing that it's difficult to find a nice friend, a hamdard like Govinda."
After all the rumours, Sunita Ahuja had decided to leave Govinda's house and had returned to her parents' home. However, with time, Govinda and Sunita had strengthened their relationship to its deepest core.
Don't Miss: When Govinda Revealed Why He Had 'Played Dirty' With Ex-GF Neelam By Hiding His Marriage With Sunita
Sunita and Govinda are two people, who are truly down-to-earth. They respect and love each other and are completely devoted to their family. They, together with their two children, Narmmadaa, and Yashvardhan, are a complete world. We wish them the best for their future years and hope that this family stays strong forever.
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
