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A good catch, this
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Sangeeta - "I had heard about his economy of words, so to say. The impression he gave me was quite different. He talks."
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IT WAS the unlikeliest of alliances. He, a shy, soft-spoken boy from the back alleys of Hyderabad. A man who was a delight to watch at the batting crease. Beyond that he could only mumble pleasantries, often not understood by those around. She was an ace model who became an identifiable face with campaigns for Vicco, Nirma and others. Then she entered films, and danced her way into people's hearts with "Tirchi Topi Wale... " Yet the two met, married, and stayed married! Yes, not many gave the Mohammed Azharuddin-Sangeeta Bijlani marriage a chance, particularly because he had had a failed marriage, and she more than one romantic affiliation, if the Bollywood grapevine were to be believed.
Not that the two have not been through their share of troughs. The match fixing allegations hounding Azhar provided more than just a simple test of character. "We learnt a lot about each other. Even as people made those allegations, we knew we were there for each other. It is at such a time you realise how much you know and love your partner. It is at this time only you know who is your friend, who is not," says Sangeeta Bijlani in reference to the dark days when media often sought to crucify her husband.
Fine, but was not Azhar himself responsible partly for the media going to town without his version of things? "No way," the dutiful wife jumps to his defence, adding, "The problem with the media is it wants Azhar to say in seven lines what he can say in one."
Azhar might be a man of few words in public, but was he like that when Sangeeta met him the first time? "Actually, he surprised me. I had heard about his economy of words, so to say. The impression he gave me was quite different. He talks. And talked the first time he met me too." When did this lovey-dovey couple meet for the first time? "I had seen her in TV advertisements before meeting her. But the first time we met was for the shooting of a suiting-shirting company, Ramolene," Azhar recalls. Sangeeta agrees, "We met at a commercial shoot initially, then we kept bumping into each other at public functions, on flights." And then Cupid struck.
Came marriage in the mid-90s, and Sangeeta, who had just about found some acceptance in Bollywood, gave up her career to join Azhar who was then to resume his stint as a captain. "It was a mutual decision," says Azhar, referring to Sangeeta quitting her career. Adds Sangeeta, "Once you are married, you have to go ahead and make certain decisions. I found he was always in the public eye and usually travelling. So, I decided to join him." In between, Sangeeta made a fleeting comeback of sorts with tele-serial Chandni. "Azhar never objected to my acting. Even now he won't object if I were to resume acting. I had to do Chandni because that was a commitment. Otherwise, now I am busy with Azhar's cricket academy, setting up a gym and a couple of other things."
"We have set up this state-of-the-art gym in Hyderabad and plan to set up similar ones in Delhi and Bangalore. Sangeeta and I do it together and we look after our cricket academy too," Azhar states, his pride very much intact after all the media crucifixion. Indeed if two is company, this one provides a fetching sight. This is one love story that has gone beyond the batting crease and the grease paint.
By ZIYA US SALAM
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