Pankaj Tripathi has made all of us fall in love with him with his versatile acting.
But wait till you hear his cute love story with his wife Mridula. We’re sure this would make you fall for him even more.
The couple has been married for 17 years now and has a daughter named Aashi Tripathi. Today, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at their fairytale-like classic romantic love story. Check it out:
Love At First Sight
Did you know when Pankaj met Mridula for the first time, she was in the ninth grade and he was a two-year senior? It was back in 1993. Talking about their first meet, Pankaj said,
“It was my sister’s wedding and I saw her on the balcony of the terrace and thought to myself, ‘This is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.’ And I did not even know who she was, or what her name was, at the time.”
During an interaction with The Better India, Mridula revealed that it was on May 24, 1993, when she met Pankaj for the first time.
“It was my elder brother’s Tilak (engagement ceremony). I was on my way to a tiny room on the terrace to get dressed when this boy with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a beard crossed me. Those eyes would go on to follow me during the entire function.”
Well, love, at first sight, is a real thing it seems.
A Relationship That Rarely Went Beyond Conversations
While these days it’s easy for couples to communicate with each other, it was the case back then. Forget writing letters, it wasn’t easy at all for Pankaj and Mridula to interact with each other. Reportedly, Pankaj used to visit his sister once every five months, and that would give them the chance to spend some quality time together. Reminiscing those days, Mridual says:
“I would leave for school in the morning and could meet him only after dinner. That was our time. We would sit and talk, sometimes till early morning. We both loved reading and had so much to talk about the books, novels, characters, stories, and the writers.”
Mridula’s Grand Plan To Break Up Her Marriage With Someone Else
Just like that eight years had passed since their first meeting, and Mridula’s parents found a marriage alliance for her.
“Pankaj accompanied my brother and sister-in-law to the prospective groom’s place. He came and told me that it was a good match for me and I would surely get much of ‘Bhautik Sukh.’ I did not know so much Hindi back then and asked what that meant, and he said ‘material happiness.’ That’s when I felt that I was losing something very precious.”
While the Mirzapur actor had to go away with a heavy heart to study at the National School of Drama (NSD), Mridula came up with the idea to break up the marriage.
“Only I know the lengths that I’d gone to break that marriage. And now the most important dilemma was communicating this news to Pankaj.”
Finally, on December 24, just a day before her birthday, Pankaj spoke to all the members of the family, and Mridula, after months of waiting, got the chance to speak to him.
“He wished me, and I reminded him that it was the next day. I tried really hard to convey my feelings to him, but he didn’t understand. It took a long explanation for him to finally get the drift.”
Their Long-Distance Relationship
While Mridula was in Kolkata, Pankaj was studying in Delhi and staying at the NSD hostel. During that time “dating” was an alien concept, yet they managed to keep the spark alive in their long-distance relationship through letters, that too once in 10 days, and phone calls- a fixed slot at 8 pm.
It is said that the actor refused both arranged marriage and dowry, which was something unheard of in the village where he hails from.
Finally, When They Got Married
After dating for almost 12 years, the couple finally got married on January 15, 2004. Just like any romantic movie, they too faced family problems. Mridula being the Brahmin sister of Pankaj’s brother-in-law, it was against their caste to marry in a family. Yet, they sorted it out and have been happily married for 17 years now.
After their marriage, Pankaj & Mridula moved to Mumbai and became proud parents of a baby girl named Aashi Tripathi in 2006.
Mridula- The Man Of The House
In 2019, while talking to The Better India, Pankaj Tripathi not only praised his better half but also called “the man of the house.”
“If you ask me about my struggle, I don’t have any sad details like sleeping on a footpath or starving for days. That’s because my wife, Mridula, had taken over the entire responsibility of the house. In fact, I tell everyone that she is the man of the house.”