She made her debut in the singing industry at the age of 14; she recorded more than 2000 songs and sung in 16 languages, she’s undoubtedly the melody queen of 90s and the most prolific Indian singer after Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. We are sure you have guessed it already. She’s none other than Alka Yagnik.
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To add more to surprise is her personal life, which is totally unconventional and interesting. Alka married a Shillong-based businessman, Neeraj Kapoor in 1989 but the couple has been in a long-distance marriage for more than 25 years. That’s remarkable right?! Let’s take you through how they met and how their relationship bloomed over the years with trust and a lot of understanding. (Also Read: Divya Stopped Replying To His Messages, Bhushan Sent His Cousin To Check Why She's Avoiding Him)
In 1986, Alka Yagnik and her mother had gone to New Delhi by train and the nephew of Alka’s mother’s friend, Neeraj Kapoor received them at the station early morning. That’s when they saw each other for the first time and gave some affectionate glances.
Alka and Neeraj stayed in constant touch. Neeraj made it a point to visit Alka’s residence if he visited Mumbai during his work trip. Their friendship grew for over six months and that is when they released to take another step in their relationship. Suggested Read: 8 Shortest Marriages That Bollywood And Telly World Has Ever Witnessed
When she saw her husband Neeraj for the first time, this is what she said, "He came in his pyjamas and my first impression was what kind of guy would do this! Later he told me that his first impression of me was a very glamorous woman alighting perfectly spruce from a train journey despite the early hours.”
The romance was a gradual intruder in their relation. After two years of friendship and romance, they felt the need to take things for a long-term commitment. The year 1988 saw the rising surge in Alka’s life with the song Ek Doh Teen, which became a hit. The same year the duo decided to take things to their families. Two major concerns of their families which bothered them were the different career of each of them and the physical distance between the two.
Parents warned them, for marriage will be a failure at some time, but the two were obstinate towards each other and hence, the family agreed towards their marriage, which happened in February 1989. While Alka used to stay in Mumbai, Neeraj lived in Shillong. The same year, they were blessed with their only daughter Sayesha who stayed with Alka.
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For the most part of their marriage, Alka was a single mother due to their career choices which demanded her to be in Mumbai. Despite this, Neeraj was always in Alka’s thoughts where she always praised him for being very understanding towards her career demands. Baring the distance, the duo made it a point to stay as husband-wife. While Neeraj would visit Mumbai in fixed intervals, Alka would spend a month in Shillong every year to spend some time together as a family.
On this Alka also mentioned as, “Neeraj even tried to launch a business in Mumbai. But he is this simple small-town guy and he got cheated of a huge sum of money. So I told him that he should go back to Shillong and not let his business there get affected.”
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Due to issues, the couple was separated and never saw each other for about 4-5 years but later, realised they are inseparable even after distances. Alka mentioned that they sat together and reconsidered the terms of marriage again and said, “The basic bond was always there,” said Alka positively in an interview later.”
She also clearly expressed her feelings about the purity of the long-distance marriage and said, “I’ll not lie and say that I’ve never got attracted to people. But I didn’t get carried away. My values are strong. I also believe one’s dignity lies in one’s hands. I don’t believe in frivolous behaviour.”
This is the way Alka described her marriage, “Our marriage can be summed up in the U2 song ‘Can’t live with or without you’. It’s been a difficult marriage to hold on to. But we couldn’t let go of each other.”
Been more than two decades, Alka and Neeraj are still together with no regrets absolutely about their married life. After so much of sacrifice and problems, their marriage is a sure shot example of the fact that marriages can survive with the partners are ready to work for it. Stay tuned with us to know more about such interesting love stories of Bollywood celebs.