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Ever since Genelia D’Souza’s wedding to boyfriend, actor Riteish Deshmukh has been announced, the actress has been inundated with calls and congratulatory messages. Apparently, while many of her co-stars here were aware of the duo dating, as their affair was an open secret in Bollywood, down South it came as a surprise to everyone.

Many felt that though Genelia feels as much at home down South, as she does here in Bollywood, the actress had never shared that aspect of her life with anyone there. But a source close to the actor says that for her there’s never been any distinction between the two industries. “Genelia has never spoken about her personal life either in South or in Bollywood. But it was less of a surprise here for natural reasons — Riteish has a strong Bollywood connect. In fact, even today, Gen prefers not to talk about her personal life at all,” says a source.

Sources agree that the affair that’s being tagged as the ‘best-kept open-secret’ remained speculative until the marriage date was declared and that the only ones who knew about it for sure, knew it as friends, not co-stars or colleagues. “Riteish has more friends in Bollywood than Genelia. Most of her friends are outside of the industry, so those close to the couple were well-aware, but none of them ever acknowledged the two as a couple publicly. It’s not that they were requested not to speak about them dating, but it’s something that they understood and respected the couple’s need to keep it private,” adds another source.

Explaining her reasons, Genelia says, “Once you start talking about personal matters, there’s simply no stopping them. First it’s buzz of link-ups, the moment you’d admit to that, next people start speculating and talking about a break-up! No matter how much you clarify, speculations anyways won’t end, so why get into that space in the first place? I don’t feel the need to clarify, justify or simply talk about my personal life. Of course, I am ready to be grilled as far as my professional life is concerned.”

For now, the actress has just wrapped up a film down South with actor Rana Daggubati and is gearing for the release of Tere Naal Pyaar Ho Gaya, her film here with Riteish. “But right now, Genelia’s planning to focus only on the wedding and the preparations. She, her family and friends are all super-excited about the wedding and helping her out with the trousseau, et al. It will be a super-busy month for her, but she’s a hassle-free girl, so it’s unlikely for her to be stressing out about anything,” adds the source.

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embarrassing red sweater with a huge patch of a colourful Christmas tree on it,” she smiles.

“Now that I think back, it looked pretty ridiculous, but it was my favourite and I wore it for three Christmas dinners back to back. Later of course, I started dolling up.”

Complete Family Time
Christmas has always been Genelia’s Most Favourite festival.

“You can feel the spirit of Christmas in the air,” she says.

“The city is completely lit up and the year is coming to an end. It’s almost poetic. For me it’s complete family time the tree, presents and extravagant lunch.”

When she was a kid, Genelia and her brother would prep for the big day a week before it. They’d choose their stockings, tree, get decorations together, and search frantically for gifts.

“Once the star was up, we knew Christmas was here,” she recalls. “Instantly, we’d start looking for our presents. But my mom would find new places to hide them every year!”

Ask what her favourite memory is and she almost shouts The treeee! She used to hate it, she remembers, when she couldn’t reach the top of the tree to place the star, but her brother could.

“Apart from that, everything about the tree made me happy,” says Genelia.

“Shopping for the decorations was such a task, but I loved doing it. We’d go all over the city looking for ornaments, and the tree always looked gorgeous.”

Of course no Christmas is complete without Santa Claus, but Genelia was quick to realise that the fat bearded man with a sack full of goodies was not Santa but her parents.

“I think every kid believed in Santa, I think somewhere I still do,” she says.

“But from the Santa in the books we read when we were little, we soon realised that our parents were Santa and we were okay with that too. My letters to Santa obviously worked because somehow whatever I wanted was always under the tree. I always thank my parents for that.”

We Stick To Tradition
Christmas for the family means being together and Genelia makes it a point to be home for Christmas.

“There is always such a sense of warmth, joy and celebration,” she says.

“Christmas lunch is the best and it’s always home cooked. Even now, we make sure we stick to traditional food. But what a feast it is!”

So does she ever step into the kitchen herself?

“I stay out of the kitchen because there probably wouldn’t be a Christmas dinner if I went in,” she laughs.

“But I do help my mother bake cakes and kalkals.”

This year too, by the time you read this, Genelia will be with her family.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world but home,” she says. “Christmas has remained the same for me because I have consciously made an effort to keep it that way. So I could be shooting anywhere in the world, but I will make sure I make it back home in time for the celebrations. I am very traditional in these matters.”

Her sense of tradition extended to Christmas Eve as well. Only once did Genelia ever attend a Christmas Eve Ball, when she was in her first year of college.

“It felt like a mixture of a fairy tale and a prom. So exciting! But I preferred to be with my family.”

Her home will be decorated with mistletoe, stars, wreaths, stockings and fairy lights.

“We go all out for Christmas. We take special care while decorating and setting up our crib which is the ultimate symbol of Christmas in every Catholic home.”

It’s evident that talking about Christmas makes Genelia very happy. Her eyes light up, she gets animated, and a barrage of stories from her childhood comes rushing out.

“I can’t help it,” she says. “I just love Christmas!”

What you love to eat?
Roast chicken with stuffing and palm sauce and of course-Christmas pudding

Something you want for Christmas?
This year, like every other year I just want a fantastic Christmas dinner with my family

Something you’d like to give this year?
I spend a lot of time planning my presents. It’s all very thought out and researched so I’m not going to give out my ideas here

A Song you love listening to?
I am very traditional, so we usually bring out the old CDs with different covers and versions of carols

Where you celebrate Christmas?
At home. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else

Your Fave Christmas movie?
Home Alone

“Things will happen when they have to happen. But I would like to keep my entire wedding plan under personal space and I hope it will be remain that way eventually,” he said.

After seven long years, Genelia will be seen pairing opposite her life partner Riteish Deshmukh.

“Genelia will soon join Riteish for the promotions and then they will talk about the film and also about their marriage. Right now, both the families have agreed that they don’t want a very public wedding and that the guest list will be kept limited. The wedding, as the couple wants, should be kept limited to 1,000 people and not more than that. Considering the clout of the Deshmukh family, it is a very low figure. However, there will be separate invites sent out for separate functions,” added the source.

Genelia D’Souza and Riteish Deshmukh will tie the knot on Feb 5, 2012 and the preparation is on. It will be a four days celebration including Mehendi, sangeet, wedding and then a grand reception. Being the son of a prominent political personality, many dignitaries are expected to get invitation but the couple wished to keep their wedding a low-key affair. They do not want it to be a public affair but keep it very personal.

“Things will happen when they have to happen. But I would like to keep my entire wedding plan under personal space and I hope it will be remain that way eventually,” he said.

After seven long years, Genelia will be seen pairing opposite her life partner Riteish Deshmukh.

“Genelia will soon join Riteish for the promotions and then they will talk about the film and also about their marriage. Right now, both the families have agreed that they don’t want a very public wedding and that the guest list will be kept limited. The wedding, as the couple wants, should be kept limited to 1,000 people and not more than that. Considering the clout of the Deshmukh family, it is a very low figure. However, there will be separate invites sent out for separate functions,” added the source.

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The cat is finally out of the bag. Riteish Deshmukh, the Bollywood actor who hails from an influential political family, has confessed that he is in love with Genelia D’ Souza and both would enter wedlock next year. “The date has not been fixed yet however,” he added.

For more than seven years now, the media has been writing about the relationship between Genalia and Riteish. However, both constantly denied the reports, saying that they are just ‘good friends’. “We have been really dignified in our decision to not discuss it in public,” says Riteish.

Genelia, who had acted in a string of Tamil movies starting from ‘Boys’, had her recent flick ‘Velayudham’ hitting the screens for Deepavali. “I just felt that she was the one. I’m in love with her. That’s it. We grew up together. We learnt things together. It was gradual,” says Riteish, while talking about his special bonding with Genelia.

Confirming that their families have given consent to the relationship, the young actor adds: “Right from the beginning they knew that we would marry someday. Their blessings are with us. As far as the marriage is concerned, we are working out on various things. We are still trying to figure out the details on the date, venue etc…”

The actress has won a lot of praise for her Santhosh Sivan film, Urumi and she is pleased with the direction her career is headed. Genelia insisted that films are her number one priority for now and there will be time for marriage and kids later. For now she is eagerly awaiting the release of Kaakha Kaakha remake, Force and Velayudham with Vijay.

A very demanding role for which i had to train even in the martial art of ‘Kalaripayattu’, this one remains very close to me. I was also very comfortable with the team of Santhosh, Sankar Ramakrishnan, Anjali Shukla and my co-artists who helped me with my dialogues, though they were not normal Malayalam. I like to experiment in all languages and is proud to be part of ‘Urumi’ as it happens to be my first Malayalam movie’ says Genelia.

It is very interesting to note that the director Prakash Tholeti first approached Rana with the story but failed to get his nod. Then he narrated the same story to Nara Rohit and he accepted the storyline.

However, Nara Rohit had become with another project and with a few changes, the story was again narrated to Rana and the director succeeded in impressing the hero.

Prakash Tholeti worked as an associate with Bommarillu Bhaskar and Sukumar.

It is learnt that Genelia was roped in as heroine opposite Rana in this movie. Two of Rana’s films, a Bollywood movie ‘Dum Maro Dum’ and ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’ on Telugu are slated for release very soon.

A visibly excited Genelia who is all for the cause of celebrating womanhood is looking forward to hosting the rock concert, the idea being ‘raising funds while having fun.’

Talking about it she says, “This is a great opportunity for me to align myself to a cause that has always been close to my heart. I believe that the strength of a woman and her ability to deal with adversity is phenomenal. I also believe that if you educate and empower one woman, she has the capacity to turn around her entire family. Women have always been paragons of undeniable strength, intelligence and courage and this initiative by Akshara (an NGO) is the best way to go about doing this.”

The concert aside, point out to Genelia that she is becoming increasingly popular on TV, with the numerous brand endorsements she’s taken up of late, and she says that it’s all thanks to her fans. “It feels great to know that I was appreciated. While choosing to endorse a brand, I always think if the brand is something I stand for as an individual or not and if I’d do justice to the brand. Endorsements help to bring out our characteristics and personality traits in a more real way. In movies, we play different roles but in television commercials, we are totally ourselves,” she concludes.

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