Namrata Shirodkar Shares Her Love Story With Mahesh Babu

“Can you believe  it? Fifteen years of marriage and we are  still deeply madly in love.We are still like we were in the courtship days,”the  Telugu film industry  most  admired  wife NamrataShirodkar looks back with  deep affection and  boundless  gratitude at her marriage to Telugu  superstar Mahesh Babu.

I tell Namrata this is the  only marriage  in the Indian entertainment industry barring Sharmila  Tagore and Nawab Pataudi’s , where  there has been no  scandal or controversy .

“What  about Dilip Saab and Sairaji? Oh, there was a scandal? I didn’t know.Well, then I guess I’ve a  lot to be grateful for. The  thought of being unfaithful  doesn’t even occur to either if us. Mahesh is  so shy he doesn’t even speak  to his heroines after a shot.  And  it’s all about trust , believe me.  I trust him completely, and  he  respects the fact that he trusts me. But yes, you’re right.  I do envy my own marriage  sometimes. Because  there are so many marriages  going  wrong  around me,” Namrata sighs , as she juggles with her father-in-law’s home and her own, as her house help has just deserted her.

 Speaking of her father-in-law Namrata recalls  the  4 years  before her marriage. “Mahesh and  I met  on the sets  of a  film called Vamsi. It’s the only film  that I did with him and  it’s  the worst film in both  our careers. But we will be ever grateful to  Vamsi. That’s where we met.  I immediately knew this was the man I wanted  to spend the  rest  of my  life with.  Of course, Mahesh’s family  was  sceptical of me. They had nothing against me. But they  knew nothing about me. Or my life as an actress in Mumbai. Come to think of it,even my parents  were scepticalof  Mahesh.”

Namrata and Mahesh had to wait for four years before getting married. “It  was  very important for Mahesh to convince his  family that  I was the right  wife for him.For four years I just had to wait. We  hardly met during those  four years.All I  had to do was wait for Mahesh  to win  over his family. I’d be lying if I said  I didn’t have my bouts of anxiety during those four years. But  I was sure I  wanted to marry only Mahesh. If not him, then no one else.And he was  sure of it too.”

Namrata says the  fifteen years  of marriage  have  just flown  by. “My days  are  so full I don’t know when  I  wake  and when I sleep. And you know what? I wouldn’t choose any other life for myself. My  husband and my two children are my world.I am asked if I crave for me-time.I don’t! I don’t  want  time with gal pals. I don’t want time  away from Mahesh. Even if he’s gone for two days I miss  him.I don’t have the energy or  craving for   expeditions and adventures outside my  marriage.Do I look after Mahesh’s career? His endorsements, yes. Not his films.It’s a myth that I choose  his scripts. If I had any script sense  I wouldn’t have done some  of the  awful films  that I did during my brief career  in Hindi cinema.”

Any unfulfilled  wish? “None. My  life with Mahesh is  a dream. I just don’t to wake up  one day to realize  it was just a dream. I want my  children to value marriage and its obligations as  much as Mahesh and me. Agreed  there is  a lot of hanky-panky  in the entertainment industry. But Mahesh and I only have  eyes for one another.”