- R Madhavan and Sarita Birje have maintained a 27-year-long marriage in the film industry
- They first met in Kolhapur where Madhavan was Sarita’s public speaking teacher
- Madhavan credits mutual respect and equality as key to their successful marriage
At a time when rock-solid marriages are falling apart in the Hindi film industry, R Madhavan's and his wife Sarita Birje Madhavan's love story—and their 27-year-old marriage—keep hope alive.
R Madhavan, once the chocolate boy of the industry, reinvented himself as a versatile actor through his constant presence in OTT shows and films.
Fame is fleeting and often addictive. Hits and flops are part and parcel of an actor's life. But professional compulsions haven't shaken Madhavan and Sarita's domestic partnership.
Madhavan Was the Teacher, Sarita Was His Student
Recalling how they first met in Kolhapur, Madhavan told Mashable India that he was Sarita's teacher and they never dated while she was a student.
"I was in Kolhapur. She used to be my student. She had come to Kolhapur to meet her cousin, who was enrolled in my classes. She decided to accompany her cousin to my classes and found my teaching interesting," Madhavan said. He was teaching public speaking and communication skills at the time.
The Aap Jaisa Koi actor revealed that they didn't date while she was his student.
After finishing the course and later becoming an air hostess, she invited him to dinner to thank him. "We went to a hotel in Kolhapur for dinner, and since then... she has been treating me," Madhavan chuckled.
Before marrying her in a traditional Tamil ceremony in 1999, Madhavan and Sarita dated for eight long years.
The Mantra of a Successful Marriage
On Ranveer Allahbadia's podcast, Madhavan shared why their marriage has worked despite his being a film star.
"We have an equal amount of fights as any couple. We have a great amount of respect for each other. For Sarita, I am not just a national star or an actor she has to feel privileged to be the wife of.
"She's an equal partner with the guy who fell in love with her and respects her. And I lose no opportunity to make her feel how lucky I am," Madhavan said.
Crediting her as a perfect daughter-in-law, Madhavan said it was one of the reasons for him to choose her over other women.
When Sarita Felt Insecure
Though Madhavan continues to put in effort to be a good husband, here's how he deals with his wife's insecurity.
Madhavan said, "I was an actor just starting out and was being hailed as the chocolate boy, and girls were fond of me. This would create insecurity for the woman. And having this insecurity is enough to make a marriage unstable. I used to ask my parents what they did, and they said, 'We decided to spend our lives together, so why assume that things are going to go wrong? We are going to say things are going to go right.' They always had a joint account for everything. I said, 'That makes a lot of sense,'" Madhavan said on the YouTube channel For A Change.
He added, "If Sarita is going to feel insecure every time she looks at her bank account, we should look at it together and say, 'This is a joint account; it belongs to both of us, and you are an equal signatory on it.' So, I am going to assume that this marriage is going to work, and I am going to say that I trust you and I hope you trust me."
R Madhavan and Sarita Birje became parents six years after their wedding.
In 2005, they welcomed a baby boy and named him Vedaant. Unlike his father, who chose acting, Vedaant developed a strong interest in swimming. In 2019, he made the country proud by winning a silver medal for India at the Asian Age Group Swimming Championship and continues to break records.
