Urmila Matondkar is one of the queens of the 90s in Bollywood. And still, she manages to keep her charm alive in the hearts of her millions of fans. She has already shown her impeccable acting skills, dance moves and gorgeous looks in several movies, including Rangeela, Judaai, Satya, Khoobsurat, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, Blackmail, and many others. While much is known about her professional front, her personal life never misses a chance to make her fans curious about it.
Time and again, Urmila Matondkar has opened up about keeping her personal life under wraps. However, just like every celebrity's real-life journey and struggles always hit the headlines, Urmila also couldn't remain completely untouched in this matter. During the peak days of her career, Urmila was widely linked to film director, Ram Gopal Varma, but she fell head over heels with a 10 years younger man from Kashmir, Mohsin Akhtar, and kept her relationship during their dating period a well-guarded secret. Here is an insight into the duo's love story and many other anecdotes from their lives.
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Urmila Matondkar's love of life, Mohsin Akhtar, is a businessman, actor, and model by profession. He had bagged the second runner-up trophy in the Mr. India competition in 2007. Following this, he worked in several other modelling projects. Afterwards, he was seen in Zoya Akhtar's film, Luck by Chance, released in 2009. His appearance in the film paved his way for the lead role in the next movie, It's a Man's World, directed by Saurabh Sengupta, featuring Mohsin along with Shakti Arora, Mikhill Chandiramani, and Mouli Ganguly, among others. Later, he worked in many music videos and ad films.
If reports are to be believed, Mohsin was going through a difficult phase in his modelling career in Mumbai when he met Urmila for the first time. It was at Manish Malhotra's niece, Riddhi Malhotra's wedding in 2014 that Urmila and Mohsin had their first meeting and the designer thus, played a significant role in bringing the two together. Moreover, it was a love at first sight from Mohsin's side. Then, they started meeting each other and gradually became good friends of one another.
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Completely fascinated by Urmila, Mohsin made up his mind to marry her. On the other hand, their friendship had also started gradually blooming into love. Finally, it was Mohsin who first proposed to Urmila but she was a bit hesitant to accept his proposal. But the businessman didn't give up, instead he continued talking and meeting her for a year. He kept wooing Urmila in filmy styles too. Moreover, according to a report in BollywoodLife, Mohsin used to pamper Urmila with gifts, frequently took her out shopping, and floored her with poetic lines to make her feel special. And mostly, what won Urmila's heart was that Mohsin never judged her work, instead he loved her for who she has always been. Thus, Urmila had to succumb to Mohsin's true love for her, and they both decided to get married despite having different religions and cultures.
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Urmila Matondkar and her Kashmiri boyfriend, Mohsin Akhtar then got married in an extremely intimate wedding on March 03, 2016, at her residence in Mumbai. Post her wedding, she released a statement to announce the same to her fans, which can be read as “We kept it an exclusive wedding with just family and friends at the celebration. Since our families wanted the wedding to be a low-key affair. We mutually decided to keep it private. We seek your blessings on embarking this new journey of our lives.” Manish Malhotra was the only person from the industry, who was present in their wedding. Talking about the same, Manish had said in an interview with a leading daily:
“So happy for Urmila and Mir (Mohsin Akhtar). They met at my niece’s wedding in 2014. She made a beautiful bride!”
For the Hindu wedding, later followed by an intimate nikaah ceremony, Urmila opted for a gorgeous red-hued lehenga designed by Manish Malhotra. It featured broad borders and golden threadwork all over it. She completed her look with Kundan jewellery, with contrasting green-coloured bangles and glam makeup. On the other hand, Mohsin complemented his bride in a peach-coloured sherwani with white pyjamas. Following this, Mohsin and Urmila threw a wedding reception for their friends from the industry. Urmila's reception outfit was also designed by Manish. She wore a white and golden-hued ensemble for the function, and Mohsin looked handsome in a black suit.
During an interaction with the Bombay Times, Urmila clarified the rumours of her converting to Islam after marriage to Mohsin. The actor-turned-politician reacted to the then-ongoing speculations of her conversion. She mentioned that being a Hindu, she believes in the culture from a wider perspective. She also revealed that if she would have converted to Islam, she would have announced it with much pride. She said:
"That was in bad taste. That’s the kind of politics I don’t appreciate. First of all, how does it matter? The kind of person I am, I have always done things my way and with my head held high. I am proud of who I am, and I am not saying I am infallible, but I have never done things that I would be ashamed of. The kind of industry that I was in (films), it takes a lot to not be dragged into toxicity, backbiting, negativity, gossip and bitching. I have never done all of this, so this (religious conversion news) appalled me the most. I am a Hindu. That’s the religion I have followed, but I believe in Hinduism in a wider sense, not the kind of Hinduism that’s sold to us today. Even if I had converted to Islam, I would have said it with as much pride. However, it’s none of anyone’s business. I am not just talking about the secular fabric of the country because I am married to a Muslim. Contrary to that, because I always believed in it, I was open enough to marry a man of a different faith."
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In the same conversation, Urmila was also asked about her first meeting with her husband, Mohsin. To this, she revealed how he used to work in close association with celebrity fashion designer, Manish, and that is what played a significant role in their love story. Further, praising Mohsin for being a good companion for her, she had said:
"We met at Manish Malhotra’s (fashion designer) niece’s wedding. A lot of Kashmiri work that is used by Manish comes from Mohsin’s factory. He is into handicrafts and artwork of Kashmir, so he been working with Manish for many years now. That’s how they met and that’s how we met. He is confident, yet easy-going. Mohsin is sure of himself without being cocky about it and has those things which I feel are important in a companion. We hit it off instantly."
In another interview with DNA, Urmila was asked if marriage has changed her in any way. She completely denied this and shared that the purpose would be wasted if that happened in any relationship. She stated:
“Not much. If you have to change yourself or the other person too much, the purpose is lost. Marriage makes life fulfilling, you explore more things with a partner than when you are alone. When it happens at the right time, with the right person and for the right reason, only then does it have a meaning. There are not too many changes. I travel more often now. And since both of us like to travel, we take the opportunity to do that more than before.”
Further, Urmila further talked about her sasural in Kashmir and revealed that she used to visit the place often. Talking about the serenic beauty of the place and the food, Urmila shared:
“I do visit Kashmir a lot, but we don’t stay there for long. His work is managed by his team. If someone asks me if I’d love to go (to Kashmir), I’d say yes every time. You’ll find it strange but despite having travelled all over India for work, Kashmir is the only place I had not gone to. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful place. And the food is awesome.”
What do you think about the beautiful lovestory of Urmila and her Kashmiri boyfriend? Let us know!
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