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Time and girls wait for no man
Love can happen even after marriage — I mean with the girl you have married — Srikkanth
Looks like you are going to toe your parents' line when it comes to marriage — Sonia Agarwal
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Valentine's Day. Elliot's Beach. A heady combination. Lovebirds on the sands. One pair, however, outshone all the others. They made heads turn. Actor Srikkanth and actress Sonia Agarwal made that lovely twosome. They were shooting for the film `Chadurangam'. S. R. Ashok Kumar who was on location asked the two to pair up for the Take Two column. Sonia Agarwal soon drew Srikkanth out with questions about the women in his life, a line she felt was appropriate on Valentine's Day.
Sonia Agarwal: Which is the best love letter you have received?
Srikkanth: Well, love letters continue to pour in. However, all of them are run-of-the-mill declarations of undying love. I am waiting for a classic billet-doux. May be, you should ask this question on Valentine's Day ten years from now. By then I would have collected lots of them and in all probability received a letter that would have really turned me on.
You have always been followed by a bevy of girls, I am sure you must have dated many of them in college.
Like most teenagers, I was awkward when it came to asking a girl out. There was this cherubic girl with a Mona Lisa smile who used to make my heart go dub-dub-dub (placing both palms on his heart). I was sold on her. Oh, the way she would walk, talk and smile! Man, she was something! For three years I ate my heart out just watching her. Just exchanging a few words with her would make my spirits soar. Then one fine day I surprised myself by asking her out. Believe me, you could have knocked me down with a feather (laughs hysterically). I was, however, as nervous as a cat on hot bricks while having coffee with her. She broke my poor heart by telling me that she was leaving the country for good. See, the bruises are still here (he points to his heart and breaks into sobs).
`Chwo' sad! When did the transformation from a weak-kneed, gawky Romeo to a self-assured lover take place?
It happened overnight. That incident woke me to the wisdom that "time and girls wait for no man" (laughs). I went on a dating spree, so to speak. But nothing panned out, as you can see. I only ended up burning a hole in my pocket.
Well, being infatuated and going out on dates are one aspect of college life.
There are other aspects such as ragging. Tell me, were you ragged?
As a fresher I almost got ragged. A group of tough-looking seniors had zeroed in on me. But, as luck would have it, news reached them just then that one of their friends who was to participate in an inter-collegiate modelling contest had cried off at the last moment. Occupied with this problem, they ignored me. They were telling each other that they had to find a substitute quickly. I saw this as an opportunity to extend a hand of friendship. I told them that I was already into modelling and quite used to walking the ramp. I offered to substitute for the `missing model'. They reacted favourably to the idea. That is how I escaped getting ragged.
There is an interesting postscript to the story. Our college went on to win the first prize and I found my status grow from fresher to hero.
Name some of your old and new flames, in college and in the film industry?
I am the `love' interest of many girls and women (winks at the Metroplus correspondent)... Rita, Gita, Sita... ssshhh (sighs wearily) just too many to name... and (with a mischievous gleam in his eyes) my latest flame is the killingly beautiful Sonia. (Sonia makes an I-will-strangle-you-if-you-say-such-things-again sign with her hands).
Now I know why so much gossip about you is doing the rounds (twirls her index finger). Which piece of gossip has given you the most number of sleepless nights?
I am young, handsome (sweeps his hair back) and for these reasons attract gossip.
I do not take it to heart. I just read the gossip (about me) and forget it.
As you are in the film industry, will you marry an actress?
(For a second, he looks like a rabbit caught in the glare of a flashlight. But recovers quickly) Well, I don't know. I mean, life is all about uncertainties. Let me just tell you this - my parents will have a big say in deciding the girl I marry.
Oh, I see! (sounds unconvinced). Well, will you settle for a love or an arranged marriage?
I will go for a love marriage that has been arranged (laughs). Jokes apart, I believe that love can happen even after marriage - I mean, with the girl you have married.
Looks like you are going to toe your parents' line. And to think that you have dated millions of girls and have girlfriends by the dozen... (shakes her head disapprovingly). Okay, describe the ideal wife.
Only tomes can hold my ideas about the qualities that make up an ideal wife. Anyway, I will name two qualities that I will not compromise on when I choose a wife.
She has to be extremely caring and tradition-bound. My mother was all this to my father. And she has been a wonderful mother to my brother and me. I am looking for a girl who has these qualities and is as beautiful as you are.
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