Aamir Khan recently spoke about his early love story and secret marriage to Reena Dutta. Long before he became one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Aamir lived across the street from Reena. What began as a teenage romance blossomed through glances exchanged from their windows, only to be met with resistance, heartbreak, and eventually, emotional acceptance. Their young love faced its first major hurdle when Reena’s parents discovered the relationship. Fearing consequences, they forced her to cut ties with Aamir. The pressure only brought the couple closer, and led them to make a life-altering decision.
In a recent conversation with Lallantop, Aamir Khan recalled in detail about his love story with Reena Dutta, from how her parents discovered their relationship to their secret wedding and the emotional aftermath that followed.
When Aamir Khan married Reena secretly
“I first read the special marriage act to understand if what Reena and I were planning to do was politically sound. I was not yet 21 when I decided to marry. In 1986, when I turned 21 in April, on the 18th of that month we legally got married,” Aamir told Lallantop.
The quiet court wedding took place in the presence of just a few close people, his friend Satya, Satya’s wife Swati, and Aamir’s cousin Anand. “We got married on April 18, two days after me turning 21. Those two days we waited because it was a weekend. We got married and went to our respective houses,” he added.
When Reena and Aamir told their family about marriage
For a while, their marriage remained a closely guarded secret. But things changed when Reena confided in her sister, Anu, who was stunned. The news reached their parents, prompting Aamir to come clean to his own family.
“Reena ended up revealing about our marriage to her sister Anu. She was shocked. Her parents didn’t react too well. Now that Reena’s parents knew this, I thought it was time my parents know it too. I called her to meet my parents. I assembled all my family members to break the news. My parents thought she was my girlfriend. They were blushing. My father was a dynamite. Unka gussa kabhi bhi phat sakta tha. But once I started to tell them the details of our love story, all the ladies in the house started to cry. Surprisingly, my dad got up and hugged me. I didn’t expect this. He said, ‘Now you are both married, now what’s bothering you?’ I said, ‘Reena’s parents are returning from Chennai in 30 minutes and that’s bothering me.’”
How Reena reconciled with her parents
With the support of Aamir’s family behind them, the couple made an attempt to reconcile with Reena’s parents. But they were met with rejection.
Aamir shared, “Reena’s mother denied her from coming home. She spoke to her and said, ‘You don’t come here. We don’t want to meet you.’ This left Reena shattered. ‘You are married now. You must be happy. We don’t want to meet you.’”
It took several emotionally fraught months for things to begin healing. “It took them four months to cool down. One time, I remember Reena’s mom secretly called us in the absence of her dad. Four months later, Reena’s dad suffered a heart attack and we rushed to the hospital. I went to see him in the ICU along with Reena. She was very close to her father. They got emotional and cried a lot. I touched his feet and he didn’t react but later nodded at me.”
That silent nod marked the beginning of acceptance.
“They eventually accepted me after I spent some time with him. He said, ‘I should have met you the first time you came to meet me, I can tell I couldn’t ever find a guy like you for Reena,’” Aamir said.
