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Govinda became a huge movie star in the Hindi film industry after he made his debut with Love 86, and within the next few years, he was a force to be reckoned with. It was during this time that he and his now-wife, Sunita, were in a secret relationship with each other. They later tied the knot, but kept it a secret for a year. At the same time, however, he had also fallen for actor Neelam. Govinda and Neelam would work together quite frequently, which led him to developing one-sided feelings for her.
In a 1990 interview with Stardust, Govinda said that at one point, he even broke off his engagement with Sunita because he wanted to marry Neelam. The actor said that he was “very conscious” of Neelam, as they came from different worlds. He said that they overcame the obstacles of their “background and upbringing” and eventually, he started opening up to her. “We became friends. And we had so many films together. We met so often, and the more I got to know her, the more I liked her,” he said, and added, “She was the kind of woman any man would have lost his heart to. I lost mine.”
In the same chat, Govinda recalled that during this time, when he was starting to fall in love with Neelam, he had a fight with Sunita. This prompted him to “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,” he said, and added, “I wanted to marry her. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
But, soon after, Govinda realised that Neelam was not keen on marriage, as she wanted to focus on her career. He said, “She wanted an intelligent, well-to-do, good-looking man as a husband. And I was anything but that. She belonged to the upper strata and I was a dehati, coming from a lower-middle-class family. We were poles apart in every way. We probably would never have been successful as a married couple. And maybe, Neelam realised that.”
He also admitted that even after he got married to Sunita, he did not tell Neelam, even though they worked together again. He admitted that he “played dirty” with Neelam. He said, “I tried to exploit my personal relationship with Neelam for professional ends. I played dirty with her. I should have told her that I was married.”
Govinda and Sunita have been married for over 35 years and are parents to a son and a daughter. Neelam has been married to actor Samir Soni for over 13 years and they are parents to a daughter.
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