Actors Trina Saha and Neel Bhattacharya, best known for serials like Khoka Babu, Koler Bou, Thik Jeno Love Story, Krishnakoli, have known each other for 11 years. Now they are all set to tie the knot in February. A t2 chat...
What are your wedding plans?
Neel: We have locked two days — one is February 4 and the other is February 14.
What will the entire wedding process be like?
Neel: The wedding will happen in an absolutely Bengali way at Orchid Garden. Trina wanted to have this waterbody around which she will take the pheras.
Trina: There will be a floating mandap. I always wanted that.
Neel: So, she will get an island feeling. And on February 14 we are going for a Mughal, royal wedding type of a reception. This will happen at P.C. Chandra Garden. There are a lot of things we are doing, we are collaborating with Manyavar-Mohey. They are doing the looks. And we are also having a Sangeet-cum-engagement on January 9.
Was planning the wedding during the pandemic tough?
Neel: We had to cut down on people, that is the most important thing.
Trina: And I also feel wedding is a very personal thing. It is not something like show business. It is between two people, two families and very close friends.
Neel: But the excitement remains the same. The people who are close to us will be there to shower their blessings and love and we will together have a blast.
How did you both meet?
Neel: We met during our college days. We used to go to the same coaching centre. I was doing a class when she entered in a bright yellow dress. Since then I call her ‘bright sunny day’.
Trina: I think he is the only person who has given me a name and called me something other than Trina. I remember I used to sit with my group of two to three friends and one day no one came... I was getting very bored and I looked at the back and I saw him giving a nice smile...
Neel: Yes, I always give positive vibes!
Trina: I didn’t know him then and I asked him if I could sit beside him.
Neel: And I said yes!
Trina: The entire day I was with him only. We ate together, he asked where I live and he dropped me home. So, that’s how we started talking.
And how did the love story start?
Neel: We know each other for around 11 years. There was initial liking but then we parted ways. She went on to study in Delhi, I started my MBA in Calcutta. But I think there was a spark still there... and when she came back she started the serial Khoka Babu, her first serial and from then we again started connecting.
Trina: The years of knowing each other, friendship... everything happened in phases. I think we have lived through everything in this relationship. We were friends, we were best of friends, we were in a relationship, we flirted with each other, we did not talk to each other... everything happened.
Neel: We met after three-four years. We were not talking that much around that time!
Trina: Yeah, he was busy with other people then.
Neel: So she came back and started as an assistant director. Then she got an offer from Star Jalsha for her first serial.
Trina: But that too I got through him only. They saw my pictures with him, then they asked him about me and he asked me to go and meet them. So, half the credit goes to Neel.
Neel: No nothing like that. I was doing my first serial in this industry and the casting director told me that they want a sweet girl, a li’l chubby.
Who proposed first?
Neel: That’s an interesting thing. I knew that she liked me and everything and there was a time I was very sure that she is very much into me and then she also told me indirectly and gave me hints. So, I was taking my time...
Trina: Not indirectly. I told him very directly. In June 2017, on his birthday night, I told him directly, ‘Listen I really like you and everything and if you do then we can go ahead with this otherwise we should stop talking. Then he went into an awkward silence for six months. Finally, in January, on my birthday, he told me.
So, how do you both like to spend time together?
Neel: We both are big-time foodies, we love to explore different places and try the food. Just that she likes fish and I like meat more.
Trina: But we are not fussy at all about food.
What are your favourite movies and web shows that you love watching together?
Neel: We both are Shah Rukh Khan fans and we are waiting for him to do something really good.
Trina: Right now we are watching Scam 1992, Money Heist.
Neel: In general we watch a lot of things together because we like to give two-three days to each other every week to watch something. Since we both are actors that’s how we can grow also. We loved Ludo, Mirzapur.
Trina: We have opened a production house (Dil Fish Entertainment) recently. So, I think watching everything will help us also.
What do you both love about each other?
Neel: For me it has always been that my partner has to be understanding and she should be a person with whom I can have hours of conversations without getting bored. It’s been 11 years, but how time flies with her is the main thing... we can have hours of conversations without getting bored. I don’t know what will happen after marriage but till now it is like this (laughs).
Trina: I love the whole of him. Neel is very honest. He always comes up to me and tells me the truth. Also, he is very encouraging.
What are some of your most memorable dates?
Neel: My most memorable day with her was a year back. For my birthday, my friends and their girlfriends, everybody made a plan to go to Thailand, but she had to cancel because she had a shoot. So, when I went to Pattaya, all my friends checked in and then somebody rang the bell and I see Trina!
Trina: He was telling everyone, ‘She didn’t wish me on my birthday, what is happening? She is not like that. She is the first one to wish me always.’ And at that time I was flying all by myself to Thailand. It was almost 1 am and I was going to meet him for his birthday.
Neel: And the best part was next day on my birthday, she took me to a rooftop dinner on the 67th floor and we could see the whole skyline of Bangkok, so that was really memorable.
Trina: On my birthday, I was waiting to meet him... and I waited for almost one-and-a-half hours and he was not there! Then he came and asked me to open the car. Inside, the entire car was filled with balloons and gifts and a cake that he actually decorated. That was the most memorable birthday.
What are the best gifts you have given to each other?
Neel: The moments we spend with each other.
Trina: Yeah, this is right. But if I have to mention something, I remember there was this another birthday of mine when he gave me around 12 presents...
Neel: I planned it like a treasure hunt and after solving each clue she would get a gift. At each place she had to decode a message to get a gift!
Trina: I was so overwhelmed. Everything was my favourite. Starting from what I love to eat, what I love to wear. So, it was really nice.
One thing that you would like to change about each other.
Trina: I am no longer short-tempered. Everywhere, he says I am very short- tempered. So, I just wanted to say that I am no longer short-tempered.
Neel: See, I am not allowed to say. But what to say when someone is perfect, right? I am getting married so it’s better I don’t say. I want a normal, peaceful, happy married life!
Trina: One thing I would like to change about him is his sleeping habits. He can fall asleep anywhere. We went to a friend’s wedding where everyone was looking for him for half an hour. He went to the car and slept. And after half an hour he came back with full energy, when everyone else was sleeping!
What are the things you fight over most?
Neel: There are lots of things we fight over, sometimes I get a bit late when I am going somewhere.
Trina: Also, sometimes he talks to too many fans. He is so sweet and positive with everyone.
Neel: If we are sweet to someone, is it wrong?!
Trina: No, but too much of sweetness is not right at times (laughs)!
Who says sorry first when you both fight?
Trina: Me!
Neel: Yeah, Trina!
Are you both willing to work together for projects after you get married?
Neel: Absolutely.
Trina: Of course.
Picture: Rashbehari Das
