Television sweethearts Rubina Dilaik and Abhinav Shukla tied the knot last month. (HYPERLINK) While pictures of the much-in-love couple are all over social media, what’s not, is a peek at the special gift that Rubina put together for her Mr Right. Well, we can tell you that it took her 4 months and a lot of hard work to conceive it. And just now, she has lovingly put it out on public domain. The ‘special gift’ spells relationship goals and proves how much they are in love with each other.
SpotboyE.com has the video, only for your eyes. We also have Rubina talking about it. She bared her heart to us in an exclusive chat this evening…
Congratulations! How is life?
We are enjoying the monsoons and the work and the new responsibilities. Like you say in Mumbaiya language, life is happening!
What’s your music video all about? Have you sung it?
It all began 3-4 months back jab hamari shaadi ki date finalise hui thi. Main tabse soch rahi thi ki wedding gift kya doongi main Abhinav ko? I wanted to give him something immaterial. And I had been learning a bit of music, as and when mujhe apni shooting se time milta tha. So, I thought – what if I gift him a song?
Beech beech main I would write 4-5 lines ka poem for him. Just as and when, to just surprise him. I would text these lines to him. I’m pretty good at poetry and prose. I had a few lines with me, that I had penned as a poem for him and I thought why not translate them into a song? And maybe if it goes per plan, I thought I could gift it to him on our wedding.
Did Abhinav have an inkling of what was going on?
No, he had no idea.
When did you give him the song?
On our sangeet in Shimla, sabhi dance kar rahe the, and everybody expected me to dance as well. That’s when I played out the song. I wanted to gift him something unexpected. We played the song on the AV monitor.
Did Abhinav recognise your voice?
At first, he just looked at the video, spellbound, as I had compiled our personal footage from the last 4 years. It was footage from our travels and celebrations – Diwali, Holi, aisi choti-choti clips mere paas thi and I patched them together.
Initially, he thought ki some film song par I made that video. But then, in the middle of the song, he realised that it was not a film song. He asked me, “Have you sung this?” I just smiled. He got up and started dancing, he was so elated.
People put a house together for their loved ones, brick by brick but this is your Taj Mahal to him…
(Laughs) I wanted something immaterial and timeless for him. I wanted it to remain in everybody’s memories.
Fabulous…
Actually, one more reason was that Abhinav is the only one who believed in my singing capabilities. I started taking music lessons recently, and when I told my friend about it, they didn’t take me seriously. “Rubina, come on, you can’t sing for Christ’s sake…,” my friends would tease me. But Abhinav would encourage me, he would tell me, “Rubina, you have a very different voice, please take formal training, you will do wonders.
He would ask me to devote my free time to singing classes. Had he not shown faith in me, I would have never attempted singing, because I know that acting is my forte. Main aise hi gaane gunguna leti thi, poetry likh kar. You know I had this fear of being judged.
Does he ask you to hum movie songs for him?
(Laughs) I would sometimes sing while playing my guitar. He would listen to it with minute attention and concentration, I would feel very encouraged. And I wanted to improve myself, because he put that confidence in me. So, I knew this was the perfect gift for him, because he inspired me to dig deep and learn a new form of art.
How did you put the video together?
I took help from someone to edit the video, to put all pictures and footage together. Phone par hum videos lete the, whenever we would travel, Abhinav would shoot travelogues for me. Kabhi mujhe apna camera de dete the and I would experiment with it.
Sometimes we end up deleting the videos on our phone…
I keep all my memories (videos) with me. I do not delete them. Mere itne phone change ho gaye, it’s been 4+ years, but I saved all our videos. Aur usme se, Abhinav ka portion toh kaafi chota hota hai, because he’s hardly in front of the camera. He keeps shooting me. It took me good 10-15 days to go through all of my stuff and shortlist footage.
Kabhi aisa nahi hua that you were sifting through footage and he barged in and wondered what was happening?
I would do this in the midst of shoot, during breaks.
In your vanity van?
Yeah, yeah! Last few months I dedicated myself towards it. Instead of sitting and gossiping, I would invest my time in this video.
Have you moved into your new house?
Yes! We’re settling in, slowly.
Honeymoon?
Maybe in a couple of months. We have a few destinations in mind, but what we finalise will depend on the number of days we can steal. It has to work for the both of us.
What destinations do you have in mind?
(Laughs) I can’t reveal that right now, it would be a surprise for him as well. Travel management is my department, entirely.