Katrina Kaif Ranbir Kapoor
However frustratingly tight-lipped Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif might be about their relationship, they can hardly deny the fact that they are serious about each other. There are already talks of a big fat Punjabi wedding doing the rounds, with the Kapoor clan already beginning work on the shaadi planning. Moreover, it was reported yesterday that the couple, who recently moved into a posh sea-facing apartment in Bandra, threw an informal housewarming party. On this oh-so-informal-list were Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Ayan Mukherji, Anushka Sharma, Kangna Ranaut, Mini Mathur and Kabir Khan.
While we are slightly confused about why the couple are still all hush-hush about each other, while only going so far as to admit to the media in twin statements that they are important in each other’s lives—Probably the twin understatement of the year!, we still have to hand it to the Kapoor parivar.
A family that has been actively involved in the film industry for four generations beginning with its patriarch, Prithviraj Kapoor, the Kapoor kandan is one of the most illustrious families in India, especially when it comes to Bollywood. Clearly, the great-grandson of Prithviraj and the only grandson of Raj Kapoor is a man who moves with the times. Following in cousin Kareena’s footsteps, who was also living in with boyfriend Saif Ali Khan before she finally tied the knot, Ranbir Kapoor moved out of his family home, Krishna Raj Bhavan last month, with girlfriend Katrina helping him set up their new home on Carter Road in Bandra.
While Ranbir and Katrina are certainly not the first ones in Bollywood to share a home before they tied the knot—think John Abraham and Bipasha Basu; Amir Khan and Kiran Rao; Kalki Koechlin and Anurag Kashyap—the couple hold a lot of influence on the youth of India. When a Bollywood couple decide to live-in before getting married, it sends a clear message to the people, especially the ones young and in love: that it is okay to do so. Adding to the fact that Ranbir, who is from one of the most tradition-bound Bollywood families in India, has decided to challenge the status-quo and do something which—presumably, his family must have had some qualms about. The Kapoors should also be lauded for not making a fuss—at least not as we know, about their son’s decision.
Living-in before taking the next step; presumeably marriage gives the couple time to get to know one another better as living rather than just dating partners. In the west, this usually is the optional in-between step taken linking dating and marriage to determine how things will go once, or rather if, the two are married. After all, love is not enough to hold two people together. Live-ins are a sort of test drive for marriage.
It was not that common before but the trend is catching up in India, though the self appointed custodians of Indian culture deem it ‘un-Indian’ and do everything from denying housing to bureaucratic interrogation to stop couples from opting for a live-in.
We just hope Ranbir and Kat aren’t fighting about lost toothpaste caps and raised toilet seats right now. Here’s wishing the couple the best. Congratulations on moving, literally as well as figuratively—from dating partners to live-in partners.