She stopped watching cricket after Kapil Dev hung up his gloves. Sports is an integral part of his life. He has watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S a 100 times. She has never watched Monica, Ross, Phoebe and Chandler goofing around at Central Perk even once. Yet, a deep bond binds them… one of companionship and togetherness. A 15-year-long one. June and Saurav Chatterjee. t2 caught up with them days before they turn man and wife.
Many congratulations June and Saurav! What is the prep like? Madness, we are sure, with your wedding right here this weekend!
June: More than madness, I think both of us are pretty edgy because I think, we’ve been only fighting…
Over what?!
June: Fighting over everything. Mostly, you know, arrangements. It’s fun otherwise because I guess it’s the anxiety and the excitement that is making us edgy. The wedding is going to be cosy with very close friends and family. Although both of us are getting married a second time, the lovely positive energy we are getting from friends and family, it’s almost like we are getting married for the first time. I really feel blessed. Life is a circle as they say and we have completed one and we’ll start fresh.
What are you wearing?
June: It will be very traditional. Saurav will be in Dev R Nil. I will be in a Kanjeevaram, in a fire colour, with my thammi, mom and didu’s jewellery. Shivangini (daughter) will wear a pink lehnga and Shiven (son) will be in turquoise blue. You can ask the groom what he is wearing! (Laughs)
Saurav: I am wearing whatever June is forcing me to wear. (Laughs) Whatever she is telling me to do, I am doing.
So, basically you guys haven’t fought as much in the last 15 years as much as you fought over…
June: Fifteen days I think! We were decided on the date, but we kind of told family and friends a month back or less than a month back...
Tell us about this 15-year journey! How did you meet?
June: (Looks at Saurav)… Say! (Smiles) I am going to test his memory.
Saurav: I used to live in Bombay. And I came in 2003-04… I used to be in and out. I used to read the papers and see this girl June Maliah… whenever you open the newspaper you would see her… I was like, ‘Who is this girl?’ Through some mutual friends, we met at the cricket club where I play and we really didn’t…
June: Like each other…
Saurav: It wasn’t as if sparks flew.
June: We hated each other!
Saurav: ‘Hate’ is a very strong emotion…
June: Not hate, but I was like, who is this guy? See, he had this funny attitude. I was like, why is he giving attitude and who the hell is he anyway?! Walks into the bar as if he owns the club or something! People used to be: ‘Oh, Saurav eschhey! Saurav eschhey!’ Especially women…. First we met socially. He would have also thought the same about me, but then he started calling and messaging me… (looks at Saurav)… don’t say I did, you did. Then he asked me out for dinner. I was like, let’s see what happens. I was invited to go and watch one of his matches. He scored so badly that I promised I would never go for his matches… (Laughs)
Saurav: Coming from Bombay where the Page 3 culture is huge, the one thing I love about Calcutta is that it is so down to earth… here was someone with Bombay Page 3 attitude! It was a perception. I guess it is a good thing because from there there could only be improvement. (Laughs)
So, it wasn’t love at first sight?
June: See, when you are 33-34, love at first sight doesn’t happen. We both were married before and mature people. You are always cautious… especially me. We were pretty okay in our space. I lost my dad. It wasn’t a great year… 2004-05 wasn’t really a great year for me. I was taking life as it comes.
What did you bond over?
Saurav: I think opposites attract. When we started hanging out, it was great fun. We got along really well. We really enjoyed each other’s company. Initially we would spend all our time together. I was really impressed by her energy levels. She’d get up early morning, shoot all day, come back, and we would meet again. Being a daughter and a mother, she managed to find time for you, which was amazing.
June: He was different than other men. He was fun-loving. He still is. I have changed quite a bit. I have become more serious and more of a home bird now… I feel like staying home all the time. I don’t have the energy level… I work for 14 hours a day and then I drive… so, for me it is 16 hours almost every day… one hour going and one hour coming… prepping for my shoot… I wake up at 7am and start doing my make-up… 10 scenes every day… by the end of the day, I am drained out completely…. What we enjoy doing is going for movies…
Saurav: We have a lot of common loves… food… the same kind… if I find something, I tell her…
June: We both love to travel… the kind of work I do, I cannot travel much… he does because of his work… and we have Bruno and Diego (Labrador) now… the two boys are adorable, you won’t even feel like leaving them…
Saurav: That was her way of…
June: Taming him… (laughs)
How have the two of you grown together?
Saurav: We are partners, in the sense that, even in my work, when I need help, she is always there to chip in. We run two homes, so to speak, and I travel a lot, so she always takes up the responsibility that I have…
June: He is being very kind. Saurav is very good as a homemaker, let me tell you that. He is into sports management and there is not much happening here… all his clients are based abroad or outside of Calcutta… he could have easily shifted, but he didn’t mostly because of his father...
Saurav: And, you…
June: Wait, I am coming to that! His sisters are also based out of Calcutta and he felt he should be here. He runs this entire house. I really don’t have time and honestly speaking, I am very lazy. My bari is run by my mom. She has done more than her share for me and my kids. I am so indebted to her. Saurav is a very good support.
At what point did you start seeing each other as life partners?
June: See, I was very honest and transparent with him. I told him that I was not there to have a fling because been there, done that… enough has happened in my life and I am seriously not interested in having a casual fling and not even looking at it… my kids are growing up and it’s either this way or that way…. He respected that.
Saurav: I had just started my own business in Calcutta, plus the two of them (June’s kids Shivendra and Shivangini), were growing up, finishing school… those were more important….
June: It’s more of an emotional thing… been there with each other in good times and bad… although Saurav is an extremely harsh critic and I am not goody two shoes either. I am equally harsh and sometimes I can be extremely moody. That’s part of my character, which I cannot change. At the same time, I am harmless. That much I know. I am very soft. He has adjusted with all that. I give him full marks.
June, you have lived your life independently…
June: I have been aggressively independent.
Saurav: She has been very supportive in the relationship too. I have seen couples where the woman wouldn’t allow the man to travel as much as I do…
June: I have always believed that in a relationship if you are constantly doubting each other and suspicious… you’ll be just killing yourself. You should respect each other’s privacy and space. Saurav is very understanding that way because the kind of lifestyle I have where I am working at night, may be I am coming home at 2 or 3 in the morning… of course, I never lived in this house. That is one thing we decided that I will not live here as a live-in partner…. But still it is not easy to have a person in your life who doesn’t have a nine-to-five job and weird hours…. Then there are times when there are long gaps between one serial and another or one film and another and that’s the time some people get cranky…. That’s the time you start taking it out on people who are closest to you and he has been my favourite punching bag! (Laughs out loud)
There is a lot of pressure of being a certain way, especially on women. How did you deal with that?
June: They hate a woman being a single mother, divorced… everything was against me. I was really blessed that my mother was such a support. My kids were very mature. They have been my greatest support and Saurav, of course, walked into my life. I am just lucky. But yeah, people really hated me… I was attractive, a single mother, financially independent… in a man’s world….
Saurav, June was used to the scrutiny, being from the glamour industry. How did you deal with all the attention?
Saurav: I come from an extremely liberal family. I have got three elder sisters and they are extremely independent women, my mother was ahead of her times in the way she thought and was extremely attached to June… something that also helped us understand each other.
June: On the contrary, I am becoming more conservative and he keeps telling me: ‘You are changing. Don’t do that’. Saurav’s family is very chilled out and I have an equation with all of them.
Saurav: And, June is the first woman in my life whom all my sisters have liked from Day One.
What have you both taken away from each other?
Saurav: She has helped me a lot in my professional life. I have seen how dedicated she is to her work. She has made me driven and responsible at work. She is more careful and guarded and I take more risks. I have also learnt family values from her…. Now, it is a balance of family and friends for me.
June: I have always felt that I have to save… for the rainy day. I am a Cancerian. He is a great friend. He doesn’t judge people. He respects space and gives people space. He is a Sagittarian. He has been very good to my children. He has never spoilt them or tried to show me, just to be my boyfriend or partner… he has never been pretentious. The relationship they share is very genuine. I was so brash. I used to say anything and everything. Ekhon aami aar boli na katha…
Saurav: That’s been my influence… diplomacy skill!
