Tollywood Town celebs get nostalgic on Valentine's Day

It’s that time of the year where you reminisce those days of “hanging out” with your special ones or the time when you tried to impress the one on whom you had a crush. Sashidhar Adivi spoke to celebs who shared their amusing Valentine's Day escapades.
Allu Arjun and Sneha Reddy
The first time I saw Sneha was in one of my friend’s get-together celebration. Later, I spotted her a few more times and started interacting with her. We started talking to each other and I developed a liking towards her and eventually thought she was the right one for me.

When I proposed to her, she reacted rather maturely. She took her time to understand me and how I go about and finally accepted! But, we never went on a date. I took her out once for a dinner before bringing the marriage proposal to our respective elders.

Senthil Kumar and Ruhee
I first met her (Ruhee) through a common friend when I was shooting for ‘Magadheera’. She flew from Mumbai and it was love at first sight for me (smiles). Later, we started meeting frequently and one day I took her to a restaurant and proposed. She did not react and left quietly leaving me tensed. When I was doing ‘Magadheera’, there were so many schedule gaps in between.

So, I was free for a lot of time and she thought I was a struggling cameraman (laughs) since I was always after her. She’s from North and doesn’t know much about South cinema. One day, she asked me whether she can see any of my interviews, I asked her to Google my name. Luckily for me, she saw a few of my interviews and articles. It was then she realised and believed me.

She took her time to understand what kind of a guy I am, my profession, how am I going to survive. One side, I had to shoot for ‘Magadheera’ and on the other side, I needed to impress her and also oversee the post production work of ‘Arundhati’. Balancing these three activities was very stressful back then. Later, she used to come to the sets regularly and understood what my job was.

We had a lot of discussions on how we would lead our life, and finally agreed (laughs) and we got married in 2009. Luckily, there was no objection from both of our families because they felt we were responsible and mature enough. We are now blessed with two kids.

Rahul Ravindran – Chinmayi
The love-smitten couple, Rahul Ravindran – Chinmayi shared their views with us. Rahul says, “I think it’s going to be difficult for both of us to celebrate this Valentine’s Day because we are caught up with work. But yeah, the plan is to try and be together.

But, we had fond memories - last year, we were together at home, had a candle light dinner and we quality time together. I believe there’s a lot of difference in celebrating Valentine’s Day before and after marriage. Post marriage, we have a lot of freedom to do whatever we want (smiles), go out on a holiday.”

Recalling an incident, he adds, “I wanted to propose her with a diamond ring. I kept it in a pastry. She opened and started eating and I was waiting for her to realise it. I was nervous that she might have swallowed it. So, I had to interrupt her and ask her ‘can you check if there’s any ring in your mouth’, she then took it out and was surprised (smiles).”

Varun and Vithika
For the soon-to-be couple Varun Sandesh and Vithika Sheru, it all started on the sets of ‘Paddanandi Premathomari’. Recalling her tale, Vithika says, “Initially, we did not interact much but in the final schedule, while shooting for an accident scene, he had to lift me and run. But, unfortunately he slipped and both of us fell down. I fractured my back. That night he messaged me ‘Are you alright? I replied ‘Who is this? I did not even have his number (laughs).”

“He was apologetic and was concerned about my health. Since then we started talking regularly and I keenly observed him for around two months and I like the way he was. We knew we were in love but none of us were vocal about it (smiles). So, I wanted to make it look like a marriage proposal rather than “love”. So I went to him and said, “I love you! And he said, ‘I love you too’”. I said I want to marry you and he said ‘let me talk to my parents’, and they were pleased to see us walking down the aisle.

Rakul Preet Singh

Rakul Preet Singh gets nostalgic and recollects her V-Day tales during her growing up years. “I have never been a fan of Valentine’s Day because it’s a westernised concept. I believe love is a much deeper emotion and you can feel and experience it every day. In school, strangely, I was never one of those girls who would get a lot of proposals. I was rather a girl who used to help the guys propose other girls. So for me V-Day was always a challenge to get everybody (guys) a girl rather than someone proposing me. I was a Tomboyish in school.”

Visakha Singh

Actress Visakha Singh feels Valentine’s Day annoys her when it becomes a marketing gimmick. “I think it’s a great reminder that one should celebrate love. My sweetest memory on V-Day goes back a long way when my beau ran around to get a special cake for me. Both of us have been together for several years that we are sick of V-Day. But the favorite line we have for each other is, “You are my lifelong Valentine” and we might enter wedlock next year,” she smiles.

Regina
Talking about someone special, actress Regina too shares her love story. “I was in a relationship three years back, but not anymore. But I am romantic. Being in love is a great feeling and it is something one has to experience. I can recall my puppy love - my neighbour in Chennai when I was in fourth class. But, he treated me like a boy and we used to hang around. After several years he came to me and I went crazy. But I did not meet him again,” she says.

Merlapaka Gandhi
My wife (Sushma) was my classmate in class eight in Tirupati. She knew that I’m a film buff and used to help me in exams. Years later, we got in touch through a common friend on Facebook. We started talking frequently and I developed fondness for her and eventually proposed her. She agreed to it. But, we decided to keep our love story under the wraps. After the success of ‘Venkatadri Express’, I went and spoke to her parents and convinced them. The rest is history.