Sai Ballal – How I met my wife Shama Deshpande

A page from the personal diary of Sai Ballal Though the roles I play would say otherwise, in reality I am very shy as an individual. I like to keep to myself and hence it is not very easy for a person like me to get into a relationship. In fact, had it not been for my wife, actress Shama Deshpande; we would not have known each other at all. We met for the first time on the sets of Kutumb, where we played husband and wife onscreen. But at that time I had no idea that this would turn into reality. Since I am very shy, I never really conversed with Shama. However, one fine day, when I was relaxing in my make room after my shoot, it happened. A boy came up to me and told me that Shama had called me in her room. So I went ahead and met her and she started talking to me. That was the first time we spoke to each other and since then we started having long conversations. Men always want their wife to care of them like their mothers do and Shama always cared for me. In fact, many times, she used to get food for me. We would always be around each other, but we weren’t in love. However, the people on sets started talking about us. They suggested us to get married as we looked like a couple in love. Even though we hadn’t discovered it then, we started thinking about it. I wanted a wife who was exactly like Shama and she wanted a man who could be a father to her daughters. And after much thought, we decided to get married. With this decision, followed the task of informing my parents and considering that Shama was a widow with two daughters to look after; it was not an easy task convincing them. However, when I introduced Shama to my mother she liked her a lot and we got married.