Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi’s love story is not any ordinary love story. Fighting against the social norms, these inspiring souls have stood together for each other during the toughest time. Their love story will make you believe that these two were born to defy the clichés.
It’s been close to three decades since Archana Puran Singh and Parmeet Sethi had tied the knot. It has been a wonderful journey for the couple with two sons, Aryamann and Ayushmaan. But when Archana met Parmeet for the first time, she didn’t want a man in her life because of a failed marriage.
Archana was sure that she was done with men, and would never marry again. For her, men were not only insensitive but also domineering. But her perception of men changed when she met Parmeet. While society and their families kept questioning the relationship due to the age and career difference, the two souls stuck together.
Sharing what made him fall for Archana, Parmeet once mentioned:
“For me, it was attraction at first sight. Archana bowled me over with her beauty and grace. It was Archana’s truthful nature and complete transparency of thought that attracted me.
For Archana it was his curious personality that left her attracted to Parmeet:
“It was his contradictory nature of being soft and rude at the same time that attracted me towards him. I remember the first time that I met him at a party, I was reading a magazine and he just pulled it from my hand for showing it to someone else without even an ‘excuse me’, which for me was really crude. But, he instantly turned with a ‘sorry,’ leaving me intrigued at the same time.”
She further added:
“After my previous failed marriage, I never wanted to have another man in my life. But with Parmeet, I realised that men can be gentle, loving and sensitive, and not all of them are violent and possessive. Parmeet is an absolute antithesis of a male chauvinist.”
But this relationship was anything but easy for the couple. As the couple faced a lot of criticism from the public as well as their family. But, it is quite inspiring how both stood by each other. Remembering the tough phase, Archana said in an interview:
“While living together, the press wrote about our lifestyle, but that least affected our relationship. What really hurt was the antagonistic approach his parents had towards our relationship and towards me. I’m glad Parmeet stood by me and never made me feel insecure. And after all these years, I have become even closer to my in-laws, especially towards his mom.”
It wasn’t just the family issues, but also their career graphs. Sharing their personal approach to handle the issue, Parmeet talked in an interview:
“Though Archana had already established as a star, I was never jealous of her achievements. Neither did we ever have our respective egos ruining our relationship. We are just two individuals returning home after our day’s work. We give each other our space and don’t interfere with each other’s work.”
Adding to this, Archana said:
“Ours is certainly not the Abhimaan case. He was always proud of my achievements, as at that time, I was already well-known, while he was still struggling to make his mark. At times, he kept aloof when he lost out on his roles, but then successfully took it in his stride and worked hard. Actually, his strength lies in his dedicated attitude. He works diligently and never chooses to be my competitor.”
Archana and Parmeet were in a live-in relationship for around four years before they tied the knot on June 30, 1992.
28 years later, Archana and Parmeet reminisced the memories of their wedding on The Kapil Sharma Show. They shared how they eloped for the wedding. Parmeet Sethi shared,
“At midnight, when we finally found a pandit, he asked us if we were eloping and whether the girl was baalik (of legal age), to which I replied ‘Mere se zyada baalik hai ladki’.”
Parmeet continued that after hesitation, the pandit agreed and the couple had exchanged their wedding vows at 11 am next morning.
But, they believe marriage is just a social tag and doesn’t show the depth of any relationship. Sharing his views about marriage, Parmeet shared:
“Every relation begins with friendship, and friendship starts with trust. The moment one partner jeopardises this element of trust and honesty, a rift is created. We were in a live-in relation for four years, and later when we married we did not announce our marriage for another four years because it didn’t really matter to us. Marriage is a label given to a relation. It is in fact love, which shows that henceforth, two people exclusively belong to each other. We both stood by each other when we decided to live-in. Maybe we wouldn’t have married, but to give our children an identity, we thought of tying the knot. However, we still remain the best of friends even today.”
Archana shares the same view and says:
“Even after years of togetherness, we are lovers and not a couple. The marriage didn’t alter our relationship. We still fight like friends and makeup immediately. And best of all, we don’t sulk or keep grudges. For us, marriage is just a tag. A piece of paper cannot change the nature of a relationship.”
At IFORHER, we are in awe of these inspiring rebels, who have proven that social norms can’t define true love.