From meeting through common friends to having a court marriage; When later actress Shefali Jariwala got candid about her love story with Parag Tyagi

Actress and Bigg Boss 13 fame Shefali Jariwala passed away on June 27, leaving behind the legacy of her chartbuster song Kaanta Laga. The actress was survived by her husband Parag Tyagi and family. Earlier, in a podcast with Paras Chhabra, Shefali got candid about her love story with Parag and how they decided to get married.

We are totally opposite. I think that’s what keeps us together—keeping life interesting. The thing was, I was single and he was single too, and friends whose marriages had happened, they’d open up their matrimonial connections. Like, you know how newly married friends are, 'I’ll introduce you.' “I got married, now you get married too.” That kind of thing. So, in that way, our common friends threw a party at their place, and honestly, I hardly ever go to parties. Super rare. But that day I actually went to the party, and Parag was there too.

We were chilling, and violin music was playing in the background. He even knew what I was wearing that day. It felt like some full-on romantic Bollywood scene with guitars playing in my heart. But honestly, I didn’t feel anything like that. Still, I’ve always been into fitness, and Parag’s a really fit guy too. So yeah, anyone who’s in the room would be noticed. Of course, I noticed between 20 people, a great personality with strong arms—it was kind of sexy.

The problem was, I’m a girl, and he is a bit shy, so I wasn’t going to make the first move. So how would he? Then my friend played cupid a little, and we met for coffee and this and that. Coffee turned into dinner, dinner turned into a long drive, long drive turned into holding hands, and then we fell in love.See more: Shefali Jariwala Death: Shefali Jariwala’s demise: Police record post-mortem video, take statements from 14 people; initial cause linked to low BP​

After that, we started living together with the permission of our parents, living together with both parents’ approval. So I told my dad straight up, "Dad, I always ask for permission for everything. I'm an open book." My life is pretty open. I like being honest. I told him, "I like this guy. If I’m going to spend my life with him, let me live with him for a year and see how it goes." That’s the right thing because a man is very different when you’re just dating versus when you’re living together. When you’re dating, you get to know each other, but when you start living together—as a true man and true woman, or just true people—you really find out. So I need to live with him to see if we’ll work out or not.

We wouldn’t have lived with each other; we would have broken up. We were so comfortable living together that it was like, “Now what, married or not?” We just got married at the court, didn’t make a big deal out of it or anything. Even today, we’re not like a traditional married couple. If you’ve seen us, we’re like boyfriend and girlfriend, just like that. I think that’s what keeps the freshness and spark in our relationship. Yeah, I mean, he keeps doing that.

He really takes care of me well and supports all my hobbies. And you know what a woman really wants in the end? It’s the little things that matter—romance, just being noticed. Like, why do I have my hair tied up? Just tell me to let it down. A man saying that makes a woman really happy. Understand this: after 10 years of marriage, all this stuff just stops if you don’t keep it alive in your life.See more: Shefali Jariwala’s demise: Everything we know so far about the tragic loss