Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and his girlfriend Shubhra Shetty have spoken publicly about their relationship for the first time in an interview with Janice Sequeira, years after the two first drew attention when Kashyap shared pictures with her on Instagram. The couple spoke about the scrutiny around their relationship, their age difference and whether marriage is part of their future.
The conversation also turned emotional as Kashyap teared up while Shubhra recalled an early moment from their relationship. Along with that memory, the two also spoke candidly about a difficult phase when Kashyap said he had tried to push the relationship away because of his own self-consciousness.
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Shubhra said she is in her 30s, while Anurag is 53. Kashyap said they have faced age shaming over the years, though he feels things have changed with time.
“We’ve had our share of troubles. We’ve had our moments. We have been self-conscious,” he said. Shubhra immediately corrected him, saying, “You have been more conscious.” Kashyap agreed and said, “I’ve been more conscious. I was more conscious. And not just more conscious; at one point, I became so conscious, I was trying so hard to push it away. There was a point because her face doesn’t show her age. She still looks the same. She doesn’t look her age. So the thing is, the more I grew older and she kept looking the same, that’s when I became slightly conscious.”
Shubhra said his hesitation came from wanting her to live life on her own terms and not feel defined by their relationship. She said, “He can be sure in life because he’s gone through everything. He knows what love isn’t, and so he can be sure that this is love. But I can’t, because I was in my 20s, and that’s when you’re figuring yourself out. So he was adamant that I go out, and if I have to find my way back to him, I will.”
Speaking further about their age difference, Kashyap added with humour, “She has been unapologetic from the very beginning; her parents are also like that. Her mother is only seven or eight years older than me, but she’s also a very good friend of mine.”
On marriage
When asked if he planned to marry for the third time, Kashyap, referring to Shubhra, said, “She doesn’t believe in it.” Asked whether he would want to get married again, he replied, “I’m very happy to be with her. I want to be with her. So, whatever that takes.”
Explaining what he meant, he said, “There’s a lot in life. What is an old man’s insecurity? I want to be healthy enough to outlive the people I love. Because if it doesn’t happen, then what can happen after that? The ways of the world. So, I think about it a lot. But my thing is, as long as we have found what we have found now, I’m happy with anything. I don’t want to lose this.”
An emotional memory
Shubhra also recalled one of their early experiences together and said it showed how deeply the relationship had affected him. She said, “We were in our honeymoon phase, really in love, and I said, ‘being in love is on my bucket list, and I can happily die now.’ I just said it casually. But he got really serious and teared up. He paused and thought about it, and then he said, ‘before this, I was never scared if I got into a car accident. I just didn’t care about anything. I feel like, for the first time in my life, I’ve found something worth living for, so I actually don’t want to die.’ And I thought that was the sweetest way to look at it.”
As Shubhra recounted the moment during the interview, Kashyap became visibly emotional and teared up.
More about the couple
Shubhra previously worked as an assistant director at Anurag’s production company, Phantom Films. The two have been together for nearly a decade, and their relationship drew considerable attention when it first became public, especially because of their age difference.
Before his relationship with Shubhra, Kashyap was married to editor Aarti Bajaj. Their six-year marriage ended in 2009, and they share a daughter, Aaliyah Kashyap. He later began dating actor Kalki Koechlin, whom he married in 2011. He also introduced Kalki to Bollywood with his romantic musical Dev D. The couple divorced after four years of marriage.
Kashyap most recently directed Bandar, starring Bobby Deol.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
