Shark Tank India’s Ashneer Grover and Madhuri Jain’s love story is no less than a Bollywood film and their marriage is a reflection of how social media affects relationships nowadays. In a podcast with celeb couple Amrita Rao and RJ Anmol, Ashneer and Madhuri shared several moments from their dating life to how marriage is now.
Recalling how scared he is of Madhuri, Ashneer said, “One day I liked a bikini photo of Mouni Roy. I follow very less people on social media. There were hardly 60 people. She posted a bikini photo and I liked it.” Madhuri interrupts, “Kya aisi photo like karna banta hai? Like karna is not a problem. But she was in a bikini.” Ashneer added, “I saw Madhuri was angry.”
Ashneer added, “Along with Mouni Roy 15-20 more accounts got unfollowed. Sonam Bajwa, Disha Patani, all got unfollowed.” Madhuri added, “I didn’t tell him to unfollow. I mean imagine that means he has no self control. You had to unfollow because if you see them, you will like it?”
While Ashneer and Madhuri met at a career institute, he insisted and pursued on dating her. Madhuri, who hailed from a small town, was quite wary of Delhi guys. She said, “I never had the thought of dating him because firstly, I came from a small town and if I get seen then it would have been a big issue and secondly, I had no intention of dating him. But Ashneer was very persistent.”
Madhuri recalled, “After so much persuasion he took me out on a date and there he told me to dutch. We ordered stuff and this guy was so weird. Itne din date, date bolke gaye date pe aur jeb me paise nahi the. When the bill came, I just said that we will dutch and he said ok.” Ashneer said, “Paise nahi the. Chilvalry naam ki cheez nahi hai.” Madhuri thought of treading her steps slowly after their first date.
“I come from a business-class family and Ashneer came from a service-class family. So even today IIT, IIM students are valued. I knew that Ashneer would make a name for himself. Wo fod hi denge. I was sure that future is secure. But still, even though Ashneer was from IIT, I wasn’t bothered about his educational tag.”
Ashneer and Madhuri woud go on dates and then would send off their drivers for sometime. One day Madhuri’s driver informed her father and said, ‘Inka kuch chakkar chal raha hai’. “Her father was disappointed because he had sent her off to study and this is what she is doing.”
Madhuri recalled, “I was working at the Satya Paul’s and my father stormed into my office. I was working with ‘Satya Paul’, who was an aged man back then and even he looked at me as if I really did something very wrong. My dad came and took me home. He had always given us the liberty to go out anywhere but informing them. His ego was hurt because I didn’t inform him about Ashneer. And I had never lied to him.” Ashneer also got an earful from her father. He said, “Maine sunn liya sab aur kya.”
After we were caught, Madhuri’s father made her call me. He gave me an earful and said, “Padhai karne aaye ho, aap toh IIT ke ho.” I just heard everything he said quietly.
“When I got the job, I got grilled over my salary package. They thought I am saying 20 lakh package but I might be getting 8 lakh package in reality. But our parents had met by then,” shared Ashneer.
Madhuri explained, “In those days there was no concept of waiting. Once he got the job and his salary package was discussed, my parents made their decision and we had a roka ceremony. However, Ashneer fell ill before roka and my parents held a puja for his well-being. He had 102 fever. But I know, even now Ashneer gets high fever.” Ashneer said, “For no reason, out of the blue I had a high fever.”
Madhuri had a certain look in mind and she got it when she went wedding shopping in Delhi. "I got my wedding outfit just how I had imagined," she said. Ashneer wore a simple dhoti and kurta at their humid wedding. "Rishtedaaro ne itni gaali di because Punjabi weddings happen in the winters and it was so humid and raining on our wedding day," quipped Ashneer. The duo wanted to have a simple wedding instead of a grand one.