Bollywood star Govinda is happily married to Sunita Ahuja, but before they officially tied the knot, the actor started developing an admiration for one of his co-stars. Back in the late 80s, Govinda was dating Sunita when he got an offer for Ilzaam, his Bollywood debut. The film starred Neelam Kothari opposite him and the film set foot for a number of films that they’d go on to do.
Govinda and Neelam starred in 14 films together, reported Bollywood Shaadis and rumours stated that the two were madly in love with each other. Govinda, in one of his Stardust interviews even shared how he felt when he saw Neelam for the first time: “I remember the first time I met her, it was at Pranlal Mehta’s office. She was wearing white shorts. Her long hair falling straight, like an angel’s. ‘Hello’ she said politely, and I was scared to reply because my knowledge of English was embarrassing. I wondered how I would communicate with her on the sets. I had never imagined I would work with her. She was a distant dream.”
But eventually, Govinda opened up to her and they became great friends. He recalled in the interview: “We had so many films together. We met so often and the more I got to know her, the more I liked her. There was dignity in her. There was no vulgarity about her, no loudness. She was the kind of woman any man would have lost his heart to. I lost mine.” So much so that he wanted Sunita to be more like her.
“I would tell Sunita to change herself and become like Neelam. I was merciless. Sunita would get irritated. She would tell me, ‘You fell in love with me because of what I am, don’t ever try to change me’. But I was so confused. I didn’t know what to own,” shared Govinda. But things only got worse as he started getting more and more work.
The actor continued: “After I started getting busier, my relationship with Sunita went through a change. She began feeling insecure and jealous. And I was of no help. We had constant fights. In one of those fights, Sunita said something about Neelam, and I lost my head and called it quits. I asked Sunita to leave me. I broke off my engagement with her. And had Sunita not called me after five days and coaxed me into it again, I would probably have married Neelam.”