Siddhant Chaturvedi, Mrunal Thakur recall how filmi romance skewed their love lives

In an exclusive chat with India Today, Mrunal Thakur and Siddhant Chaturvedi opened up about growing up on filmy romances and how those cinematic ideals shaped, and sometimes skewed, their own love lives.

Every ’90s person would agree that, growing up on Hindi cinema, our idea of love and romance often meant grand gestures, music playing in the background, and a dramatic confession leading to a happily ever after. While times have evolved and filmmakers are now moving towards realism, our yearning for a perfect filmy romance continues to live somewhere deep down. Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur, who are set to star in the new romantic Do Deewane Seher Mein, recently spoke about their experiences of filmy romances and how that skewed their love lives.

In an exclusive chat with India Today, Siddhant admitted that he believed in the cinematic idea of romance for years, until a deeply embarrassing moment at his Class 10 farewell gave him a lasting reality check. The actor recalled how his grand gesture towards his crush left him heartbroken in the end. “I had seen in films that when a girl gets upset or when you want to impress someone, the hero comes, dances, there are background dancers, music blasting, and the girl eventually agrees. I used to really believe this,” he said

Determined to recreate a movie-style proposal, Siddhant recalled how he planned an elaborate moment during his school farewell for a girl he liked, complete with friends, drama, and the intention of going down on one knee in front of everyone. He said, “It was my 10th standard farewell, and I liked someone. I thought this was the last day; everyone was in the auditorium dancing. I told my four friends, I want to propose, on my knees, fully dramatic. I even bribed them with vada pavs, ice creams, and coffee. We were all grooving around her in the hall, and as soon as the Aashiq Banaya song played, we did our choreographed steps, and then I went down on my knees and proposed.”

What happened next was, however, not what Siddhant had expected. He shared how the entire class started laughing, and the girl just turned back and walked off. “Bohot bezzati hogayi thi, mere aur mere doston ki (It was really humiliating for me, and even my friends). That girl later also told me, ‘You should not have embarrassed me like this in front of the whole class.’ That’s when I understood that maybe real life doesn’t work like the movies,” the actor said.

Mrunal Thakur, who was also part of the conversation, further reflected on how Hindi cinema, especially the romantic legacy shaped by Shah Rukh Khan, has set extraordinarily high expectations of love and expression. “I think the romance in the movies and Bollywood, especially because Shah Rukh Khan, sir, set the benchmark so high. If anyone wants to come close to me or cross the Laxman Rekha (boundary) around me, he has to be even more than what we have seen in the movies. Sometimes I feel sad that we only experience this kind of romance in films, why can't we in real life? But the standards that sir has set are so high that crossing them is not just difficult, it feels impossible.”

Between Siddhant’s farewell heartbreak and Mrunal’s reflection on SRK-style romance, the fact remains that Bollywood may teach audiences how to dream about love, but real life rarely follows a scripted romantic sequence. As for them, both actors promise to bring real-age romance and relationship conversations with their film Do Deewane Seher Mein, which is set to release on February 20.