#HappyBirthdayMaheshBabu: How Did South Star Mahesh Babu Fell In Love With Bollywood Queen Namrata Shirodkar

The younger son of veteran actor Krishna, Mahesh Babu, who turns a year older today, made his debut as a child artist in Needa (1979) at the age of four. Mahesh Babu is the actor who made his appearance in almost all blockbuster hits of South Indian film industry met a Bollywood Queen and former Miss India Namrata Shirodkar.

Today we bring to you a simple and sweet love story of two superstars down South. We're talking about Mahesh Babu and Namrata Shirodkar.

Namrata had a thriving modeling career and was crowned Miss India in the year 1993. The same year she represented India at the Miss Universe pageant where she stood fifth.

Although she had done numerous modeling projects, it was only in 1998, after her sister Shilpa Shirodkar's marriage that she made an entry into Bollywood with the film Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai opposite Salman Khan and Twinkle Khanna.

It was around late 1999 that she signed her third south Indian language film, and first Telugu film Vamsi, which happened to be Tollywood’s veteran actor Krishna’s younger son Mahesh Babu’s first film. The two future love-birds first met at the "mahurat" of the film Vamsi in the summer of 2000.

The fact that Namrata was four years older to Mahesh could have restrained the reserved actor. In spite of all that, the two had some compatible attributes. Both had a down-to-earth persona off-screen and had an untarnished image when it came to matters of love.

Although Namrata was often linked with Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Manjrekar, she vehemently refuted it. She even said in an interview that, “Just because two people get on and one is cast in a few of the maker’s projects, that does not indicate that the two are in the throes of a torrid affair. It’s so stupid and passé.”

The fact was most well-known that her link-up with Mahesh Manjrekar was nothing but the gossip of the media grapevine.

The shooting of the film Vamsi began as scheduled and as the making clocked days, the on-screen pair started developing a certain off-screen rapport. By the time the filming of the movie was complete, the two had become an item and were very much dating each other.

They displayed a certain intensity of love in their relationship, which was a positive indicator of the strong bond the duo shared. It was quite likely that a Mahesh Babu's marriage with Namrata Shirodkar would happen.

Since Namrata was not a popular face down south, and hardly anyone knew Mahesh back then in Bollywood, their romance was mostly an unknown episode even for the people in the industry. Although hints of their affair were regularly picked up by the media, the pair meticulously managed to ensure that it was kept as deep under wraps till the right time.

It is said that Mahesh didn’t share anything about his relationship even with his parents, and he had poured this fact only to his sister Manjula with whom he is quite close.

The brighter side of this was that unlike most celebrity affairs, which go tumultuous due to too much public attention, Mahesh and Namrata had quite a serene and stable relationship. The couple continued this way for quite some time, and it was in late 2004 that the doting lovers decided that it was time to elevate the status of their relationship.

They concluded to tie the knot by early 2005 once Namrata was able to wind-up all her projects.

Namrata was busy till the week of her marriage since she was busy finishing all her pending projects. Mahesh was so engrossed in the making of his film Athadu that he was busy in the movie shoot the entire night of 9th February and flew to Mumbai from Hyderabad on the morning of 10th February 2005, which was the day of the wedding.

The ceremony was a private affair, and only the nearest family members and close friends were part of it. Pundits from Tirupati chanted mantras in Telugu but made a humble effort of explaining the significance of each wedding phera in Hindi to Namrata and her family.

Mahesh Babu and Namrata had a pretty smooth run with their marriage, and the couple was blessed with their first child in 2006, a son whom they named Gautham Krishna. Things were quite rosy for the couple up till the third year of their marriage. It was around that time they hit a rough patch in their marriage.

It is said that things were so grave that Namrata had even left Hyderabad with her son to live at her house in Mumbai. In spite of that, Mahesh made frequent trips to Mumbai to meet his wife and son. Things went on like that for some time but the turbulence subsided soon, and Namrata was back to her husband’s place with their son.

They welcomed their second child, a daughter, in the year 2012, making their family perfectly complete. Namrata now wears many hats since she now plays a critical part in Mahesh’s career. She is known to manage his endorsement portfolio and is said to be the influencer behind the roping-in of Mahesh Babu for national-level brand endorsements.

She even said in an interview that it was their mutual decision to take a conscious step in building his brand on a national level.