Kamal Ghorui
Govinda and Sunita got married in 1987 after being in a relationship for several years. It was a love marriage that began when Govinda was still struggling to find his footing in the film industry. As his career took off and he became a star, his personal life grew more complicated.During the peak of his success, Govinda fell in love with actress Neelam, with whom he shared a hugely popular on-screen chemistry. The two worked together in films like ‘Khudgarz’ and ‘Love 86’, and their pairing was adored by audiences. At one point, Govinda even came close to ending his engagement with Sunita and seriously considered marrying Neelam. However, he eventually reconciled with Sunita and chose to keep their marriage under wraps for nearly a year.Speaking about that phase in an interview with Stardust, Govinda had candidly admitted, “After I started getting busier, my relationship with Sunita went through a change. She began feeling insecure and jealous. And I was of no help. She would nag me and I would lose my temper. We had constant fights. In one of those fights, Sunita said something about Neelam, and I lost my head and called it quits. I asked Sunita to leave me. I broke off my engagement with her. And had Sunita not called me after five days and coaxed me into it again, I would probably have married Neelam.”The actor later acknowledged that he had wronged Neelam and still regrets it. Admitting that she was kept in the dark about his marriage, Govinda said, “Neither did Neelam know about it. She got to know only after a year. I probably did not tell her because I did not want to break this successful screen pair. And to be honest, to a certain extent, I did exploit my personal relationship with Neelam for professional ends. I played dirty with her. I should have told her that I was married.”In another interview, Govinda openly spoke about wanting to marry Neelam but ultimately choosing to honour his commitment to Sunita. He explained, “Yes, I wanted to marry her. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Neelam was the ideal girl, the kind every man visualises for a life-partner. The kind of girl I wanted. But that was getting emotional. There was another practical side. Just because I had fallen in love elsewhere, I couldn’t overlook my commitment towards Sunita. If there was no sense of duty in a man, this would go on. Leave one for another and another for another.”Recently, in an interview Neelam denied link-up rumours with Sunita. When the host asked Neelam about the gossip surrounding her alleged infatuation with Govinda before she married Sameer Soni, the actress appeared surprised and said on Usha Kakade Productions’ podcast, “O teri, who said this? Govinda ji bahut hi acchhe insaan hain, magar yeh jo sawaal hai, yeh sach nahi hai (Govinda is a good human being, but this question is not true).”
