Sonnalli Seygall has been slowly and steadily making a name for herself in the big leagues. Having done projects like ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’, ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’, ‘Jai Mummy Di’ and many others, she is definitely someone who’s a name to reckon with.
Recently she got hitched to her longtime boyfriend, Ashesh Sajnani. In a time when A-list actresses are trying to go for international destination weddings and having numerous functions with the entire media going in a frenzy, Sonnalli Seygall decided to keep it small and limited to only close family and friends.
Talking to Prateek Sur, Sonnalli Seygall opens up about why she decided to have a low-key wedding, what made her take almost 7 years before she decided to take the relationship with her boyfriend to the next level, how her mother reacted to the wedding talks, and how she gained her trust back in weddings after seeing her parents have a broken marriage. Excerpts from the candid chat:
Congratulations on the wedding. I would like to begin by asking why the low-key wedding. I mean, in times when actors or actresses are going abroad and doing destination weddings and doing like 2-3 lavish parties in different themes and matching outfits, you decided to keep it really simple. Why?
Ashesh and I are both extremely simple people and we like to keep things very private. I was always of the opinion that a marriage should last and it should be big. A wedding party doesn't need to be. I feel the more intimate and meaningful you keep it, it's more about bringing value to your marriage rather than showing people and throwing a big party. Having said that, we did want to celebrate with our friends. We wanted a good aura for our wedding. Initially, we thought of calling the Bir Saab and having the wedding at our home because that's where we really wanted it. We have the space, there is a beautiful terrace and it is outdoor so we could have really done that. But somehow I feel the numbers wouldn't have really fit in. We could fit in somewhat 60-70 people at our home but the numbers went up to more than that, hence the Gurudwara. I still feel like our functions were intimate yet we celebrated. Every function of ours has a meaning behind it. Starting from our mehendi, we wanted one of our functions to happen at Ashesh's hotel. His brother's and a cousin's wedding function happened there. So his hotel has a special meaning and we wanted to have some function there. The wedding was of course at the Gurudwara and nothing more meaningful than that. Even when we were taking the pheras, we made sure that the meaning of each phera was written on the screen in English so that everyone could follow. Ashesh and I really studied because we wanted to understand the meaning of each of our pheras, what are we getting into, what are we inviting into our lives and what are we going to live by. Our reception was at Galette which is our brother/best friend/very close family friend and Ashesh's first internship was there. When Ashesh returned from Switzerland, it was the first place he interned. So, our reception was also at a place which holds very high regard for us. Every function of ours has a meaning. Hence the focus was not to have a destination wedding or to show to the world. It was about celebrating our journey and looking forward to having a beautiful life together.
Was it just your choice or was even Ashesh allowed to weigh in his opinion on where, when and how the wedding should take place (Laughs)?
This question in itself is a bit strange. Was he allowed? No, I am nobody to allow him and he doesn't need my permission to do anything and vice versa. We are both individuals and respect each other's opinions extremely. It's very important to us. Fortunately, we were on the same page. We both sort of knew we wanted a Gurudwara wedding and it was really easy. Somehow we were always on the same page. The only thing we might have not been would be the buttons on his sherwani, so something as little as that and even that got sorted easily. My jewellery was all white gold and diamonds, so there was no gold at all. So, I wanted the buttons on his sherwani also to complement that. He sort of agreed to it and we placed the order. But after 2 days, he was like I really liked those gold buttons and can I have it. And I was of course you can do that. So, that was the only thing we disagreed on, and in such a case, you talk to your partner and see what they want. Luckily there was no other thing we weren't on the same page for. So, it was really exciting for me to do this together. We also had different departments as it was a little short notice. We had 3 weeks to plan the wedding. He is a restaurateur and a hotelier so his department was mainly food. He sent the menu for me to check and I was like I don't want to as I trust him. The only thing I checked was what would I eat out of that. My department was more clothes and logistics. So, it was very well divided and we both knew what we were good at and we did that. If we got stuck anywhere, we would talk it out and come to a solution together. It was literally that simple.
If I’m not wrong, you guys dated for quite a long time before you decided to tie the knot. What kind of qualities in Ashesh made you confident that yes he is the one with whom you want to spend the rest of your life?
We dated for almost 6.5 years before we tied the knot. We took our time and it was long due. We wanted to get married for 2 years. If Covid hadn't happened, we would have gotten earlier. But somewhere we also got comfortable and complacent being the way it is, then we were like, no, we have to put it down on paper. There are a lot of things you observe about your partner over the years and there are many qualities about Ashesh like that. The most important ones are his integrity, and his kindness and they are a big turn-on for me. If a person has values, respects other people and has a lot of integrity, these are things that are very rare to find today. People care a lot about the superficial stuff today and they think short term. Nobody wants to invest in a relationship, or make efforts. They don't think long-term. So, we had all of these green flags.
I remember having done an interview with you long back where you had mentioned your mother’s marriage not being the perfect one. Was that thought ever in your mind which is why you decided to take your time before you chose your Mr. Perfect?
Yes, I have seen many broken marriages around me, including my parents'. It has made me extremely cautious in life and a little negative towards relationships, I am not going to deny that. But when I met Ashesh, exactly those kinds of questions, insecurities and doubts sort of melted away. He was the only one with whom that happened. In fact my belief in marriage sort of built again after I started dating Ashesh. There was a phase in my life growing up when I didn't believe in the institution of marriage because of the bitter experiences I have seen around me. But when I started dating Ashesh my faith in the institution got reinstated. I saw how his values and outlook towards marriage and partnership, and his parents' marriage and it helped. I do believe every person and every relationship is not the same. Everyone has to go on their own journey and ours is going to be a different one. We are both extremely committed people in life and relationships. We prioritise our relationship and put in efforts to make it work and that sort of brought me peace when I decided to get married.
What was your mother’s first reaction when you told her that you wanted to get married to Ashesh?
My mother had been behind me for a long time to get married to Ashesh. She was extremely happy when it finally happened. I remember our roka ceremony which wasn't much talked about in the media as I didn't share any pictures from it and was very intimate. That's where it all began on May 15 and it was just my mom and I from my side of the family. There were so many others from his side. She was so happy and emotional that day that it was finally happening. Throughout the wedding, she has been so emotional and rightly so. She feels very content and happy. She loves Ashesh and they have a very beautiful bond. They are more like friends and he pulls her leg and she loves it. He is her son.
