When a person falls in love, he/she doesn’t care about anything else and factors like religion, caste, background, etc. have no value or importance in the eyes of the lovers but these factors are quite significant when the families of the lovers get involved, especially in the case of marriage. Usually in India, particularly in small towns and villages, inter-religion marriages aren’t preferred but things are changing slowly and people are giving more importance to a person’s nature than religion.
The famous actor Manoj Bajpayee is also one of those few celebs who have had an inter-religion marriage. He is married to actress Shabana Raza whose screen name is Neha and she made her debut in Bollywood with movie “Kareeb” in which she worked with Bobby Deol.
In his biography (Manoj Bajpayee – Kuch Paane Ki Zid), Manoj Bajpayee has revealed that it was love at the first sight for him when he saw Shabana in a party organized by Hansal Mehta in 1998. Manoj stated that when he saw Shabana in the party, he thought that no actress of Bollywood would have the courage to come in party with oiled hair and her simplicity caught his heart straightaway.
They both tied the knot in 2006 and have a daughter whom they have named as Ava Nayla.
Recently, “The Family Man” actor gave an interview in which he was asked about the religious scrutiny and in response, he said that even if it would have happened, nothing was said to him in this regard. He further says that he belongs to a Brahmin family and Shabana’s family is also very reputed and till date, his family members have not said anything about his wife’s religion.
While talking about their religions, he says that his wife is a proud Muslim and he is a proud Hindu but there is no clash between them because they are more spiritual than religious. When he was asked whether his family members had a problem with his wife’s religion, he said that even if they had a problem, they don’t have the courage to talk about it in front of him because they know he is a very hard and tough person when it comes to things like this and he doesn’t take it in a nice manner.
Quite sensible, isn’t it?