Randeep Hooda on his Manipur wedding: ‘We could hear hundreds of AK-47 firing`

Randeep Hooda married his girlfriend, Lin Laishram, in 2023 in a traditional Manipuri ceremony. As pictures and videos from the ceremony emerged after their marriage, the internet couldn’t stop gushing over the beautiful wedding. And now, in an exclusive chat on Mid-day`s Sit With Hitlist, the actor has spilled the beans on how things unfolded at the unusual wedding. 

Randeep Hooda shares his love story

Randeep shared, “I didn’t think to get married at all, but I think now it’s very wise that if you want to get married, get married younger. But life happens. Lin is a wonderful girl.”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Randeep Hooda (@randeephooda)

Talking about how they met and how love bloomed, he shares that they met at Motley, Nasseruddin Shah’s theatre group, while they were both working on the same play, titled ‘Arms and the Man.’ He recalls, “We first met in Motley during Arms and the Man. She had just come back from New York, met Nasser, and was helping around the entire play. She was a part of the crew. We kept meeting over the years, and when lockdown happened, we happened to be held up together, and that’s what led to all this.”

Randeep Hooda about his marriage ceremony

Randeep recalled how their wedding took place, saying, “It was a big thing where people said I wasn’t getting married to a Jatt girl. My marriage itself was a big drama since there was a problem going on in Manipur, and we were thinking of getting married. I said this won’t be a marriage unless we go there.” “Ladki ke ghar jaake shaadi nahi ki toh kya shaadi hui (Is it even a marriage if you don’t get married at the girl’s house),” he quips. 

He adds, “I had a friend like this brigadier with Assam rifles. I called him and he said, ‘Come, I’ll get you married.’ So 10-12 of us went there, and we had never been there. We had no idea about their ceremonies. She tried to show me videos of it, but I was busy editing Savarkar at that time. I pretended to watch it, but I didn’t,” he laughs.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Randeep Hooda (@randeephooda)

Randeep shared that when they reached her house, they were served pure vegetarian satvik food, which is unusual in Manipur. He further recalled how they worshipped all their Gods before getting married, which led to his friends jokingly asking him if he had brought them for a sacred pilgrimage instead of his wedding. 

Recalling the wedding ceremony, he recalls, “Because of security reasons, we stayed at the Army camp.” During the ceremony, he shared how the ceremony was a unique one where the groom and bride are considered Gods for the day and hence are not allowed to move once inside the mandap, and a helper would help them around. 

He also shared how his mother was sitting in front of the mandap and crying, laughing, watching her son. He emphasises how it was so different from his culture, saying, “Haryanvi (culture) is rough and crass, theirs was so systematic and elegant.”

Talking of getting married in a civil war-like situation, Randeep opens up about how, after their ceremony, they could hear hundreds of AK-47 rifles firing around. When asked why they chose not to wait in that situation, he shares that they did. They lived together for 4-5 years before getting married, and the ceremony brought a lot of cheer to that place. They also went to relief camps and helped people there, bringing a lot of cheer to them as well.

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