Govinda is in news again.. this time not due to politics or films but on a tragic spectacle of breakdown of marriage after 37 years . His fans and well wishers pray that divorce reports prove to be untrue and he and Sunita continue in united and marital bliss.
On the personal front, Govinda is married to Sunita, the friend who became his wife when he was barely out of his teens. Reminiscing about the moment of his engagement, he had said, ‘I came home one day from shooting and my mother said it’s high time I got married. Sunita and I were married the next morning at 4.30 a.m.’ Govinda described it as a ‘love cum arranged marriage’, since the two knew each other well. ‘We used to fight constantly,’ Sunita recalls. ‘He thought I was too mod [modern] for him.’ But he married at his mother Nirmala Devi’s insistence. ‘I never questioned my mother,’ he says. ‘I just tried to give her all the happiness that was in my hands.’

There is more to Govinda’s private life, however, than this bland statement reveals. There were fleeting rumours of his link-up with Karisma (previously known as Karishma) Kapoor when she first started out in films and was paired opposite him. But the love of his life seems to have been his co-star Neelam Kothari.
Film glossy Stardust had run a story on the Neelam–Govinda romance under the heading: ‘Why Govinda could not marry Neelam.’ According to contributor Suguna Sundaram, the two were from drastically different backgrounds. The actor, who described himself quite unapologetically as ‘an unpolished boor’, was smitten by his Hong Kong-born leading lady, who seemed to him like ‘a Dresden doll – pure, clean, polished and dignified’. He confessed to having felt inadequate in her presence, because his spoken English was far from sophisticated. Govinda met Neelam for the first time at producer Pranlal Mehta’s office, where she had turned up in white shorts, her long hair flowing behind her ‘like an angel’s’, as he put it later. While working together in Love 86, followed by Ilzaam (1986)

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Govinda’s alleged romantic involvement with Rani Mukerji, whom he would meet on the sets of Hadh Kar Di Aapne (2000), created quite a scandal, as, by then, he was a married man. The Times of India wrote of the rumours circulating about the pair: of the actor gifting Rani an expensive car, diamond jewellery and even a high-end apartment. The affair supposedly reached a point where Sunita registered her protest by moving out of her marital home. Eventually, Govinda’s unwillingness to give up on his marriage would lead to the break-up of his relationship with Rani who, many years later, went on to marry billionaire film producer and director Aditya Chopra.

There must have been something special about the ‘Virar ka chhokra’ to attract women who wouldn’t normally have considered him their ‘type’. It could well have been the quality that has been described as his ‘simplicity’, but there was obviously more to him than met the eye. Even author Shobhaa De, who had spent an evening with Govinda for a film-tabloid feature, was impressed by him. ‘He has a native intelligence and a terrific sense of humour,’ she would observe, adding, ‘and he’s a shrewd businessman. He’s figured out what his audience wants and he delivers it.’ Speaking to the author, film-maker Mahesh Bhatt commented on the Govinda ‘magic’ and his success in films which was based on ‘essentially a salt-of-the-earth everyman appeal combined with sincerity and innocence. His Indianness was his major asset’. Bhatt, who had directed him in Awaargi (1990), would add, ‘People could tune into him.’ In Govinda, David Dhawan saw the ‘yahoo exuberance’ of Shammi Kapoor and the poignancy of Raj Kapoor’s Anari (1959). ‘Govinda had a natural vitality, which was spontaneous, not cultivated,’ he remarked.

The same spontaneous charm would work wonders for his political career soon after Sonia Gandhi took over as Congress president in late 1990s. An accomplished and successful actor by then, Govinda was invited to a high-profile political event organized at Congress leader Murli Deora’s residence to welcome ‘politician’ Sonia Gandhi in Mumbai. Deora’s wife Hema clearly remembers how Murli had led Govinda directly to the table where Sonia was seated and introduced him
Someone in 1998, Murli Deora had hosted a party in honour of Sonia Gandhi who had taken over as the AICC president. An accomplished and successful actor by now, Govinda was invited to a high-profile political event organized at Murli Deora’s residence to welcome ‘politician’ Sonia Gandhi in Mumbai. Deora’s wife Hema clearly remembers how Murli had led Govinda directly to the table where Sonia was seated and introduced him. The Congress president is said to have remarked, ‘Of course, I know him. My children keep talking about him.’ Govinda was then seated next to her, while the hosts Murli and Hema excused themselves to attend to other guests. Hema recalls noticing from a distance how the actor had Sonia Gandhi in splits several times on that occasion. Congress leaders close to her had then observed that the AICC chief had been instantly struck by Govinda’s simplicity and easy manner and had invited him to pay a visit to 10, Janpath when the actor was next in Delhi – a meeting that would finally materialize in 2003. Govinda maintained that he had great admiration for the Nehru–Gandhi family. ‘I chose the Congress for its thoughts, its acceptance of people of all opinions and its wide perspective,’ he would declare.

In 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Govinda had earned a tag of a giant killer when he had posted a spectacular victory against BJP veteran and former central minister Ram Naik. However, by 2008, the Congress MP from Mumbai North had become disillusioned and made several threats to quit politics. From January–February 2008 till May 2009, his association with the Congress and his parliamentary constituency were minimal. The actor did not campaign for the Congress during the 2009 polls, but the Party’s nominee Sanjay Nirupam won the seat.
Govinda had little to do with the Congress’s ideology or its social programmes and had remained absent for most of the Lok Sabha sessions. In fact, as MP, the actor had earned the dubious distinction of skipping the highest number of Lok Sabha meetings during his tenure (2004–2009) in Parliament, with records showing that he had attended merely 12 per cent of all the Parliament sessions during his five years there. Moreover, the few speeches and remarks he had made in Parliament were deemed ‘politically incorrect’ and a source of embarrassment to the Party leadership.
Govinda remained politically inactive during the second phase of UPA. He was miffed as neither Sonia Gandhi nor prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh offered a Rajya Sabha seat. While speaking to this correspondent then, Govinda would often withhold comments, merely expressing his unwillingness to talk about politics. ‘You are free to draw your conclusions on why I left politics,’ he had told me, avoiding comment on politics and his experience of working with Sonia, Dr Manmohan Singh and the Congress Party. ‘I felt that it would be proper to quit politics because I didn’t have much experience in this field,’ he said by way of explanation.

However, for an actor known mostly for his loud brand of comedy and equally loud outfits, along with his sexual innuendo-laden dialogues and violent pelvic thrusts – all carefully calculated to target and win over the masses, primarily, the front-benchers in the audience – Govinda had been a surprise as a political package. During the tireless rounds of campaigning, the enthusiastic actor often spouted poetry with the same ease with which he had executed his famous ‘latka-jhatkas’, the suggestive dance moves, that had earned him a vast fan following. He also had a quick wit about him: when someone asked him once, if, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee around, more poetry would be recited and there would be more ‘taal-mel’, or harmony, in Parliament, Govinda had retorted: ‘Taal toh zaroor hoga, lekin mel ke bare mein keh nahi sakte (Rhythm will certainly be there, but I can’t be so sure about harmony).’
That was the charm of the ‘Virar ka chhokra’, as the boy from Virar was fondly referred to. Coming from the fringes of society was, surprisingly enough, one of Govinda’s greatest strengths. He was born as Govind Ahuja to a Punjabi family that had settled in Maharashtra and fallen on hard times even before his birth. His mother, the late Nirmala Devi, was a classical vocalist and his father Arun Ahuja, a struggling film actor who is best remembered for his role in Mehboob Khan’s Aurat (1940).

Long before Rahul Gandhi’s politically motivated Metro rides to project himself as one of the people, it was Govinda who would board the local train to garner support for his Party. Potential voters felt reassured and warmed to him. ‘Yeh bheedu toh apun ka aadmi hai (This man is one of us),’ they were heard murmuring to each other. A big crowd always accompanied him, talking to him and cheering him on with, ‘Chal, Govinda bhai, chal.’
At times actress Zeenat Aman would be by his side in the election campaign. And contribute her bit by saying, ‘They call us nachne gaane wale. But let me tell you we sell our art for a living, but never our integrity (iman nahin bechte).’ ‘Govinda ala re ala (Govinda is here)!’ he would exclaim, adding, ‘Ram Naik gela re gela (Ram Naik is about to be sent packing).’

In an interview for the Hindustan Times in 2017, Govinda had said, “I am proud to say that whatever I have ever wanted, I have done it my way,’ he would declare. ‘I didn’t have to please anyone to get where I am. I worked towards it. I wanted to be at the top of films, I did it my way. Then I wanted to try my hand at politics, and I did that. In 2009, I wanted to get out of it [politics] without any controversies, and I have to admit, I’m really very lucky to [have managed that]. Now I am here again, entering films, when I want to.’