​It was a blend of cricketing and cinematic worlds when cricketer Harbhajan Singh and actress Geeta Basra tied the knot in 2015. In an interview with us, the couple reflects on their decade-long marriage, parenthood, and what keeps their bond strong through changing times.

Talking about married life, Harbhajan in his characteristic humour, says, “Yaar, main toh maanta hoon ki shaadi nibhane ke liye two things are very important kuch nazar andaaz aur kuch bardasht karna padta hai, baaki pyaar mohabbat toh chalti rehti hai shaadi mein. If you follow these two things, shaadi tik jaati hai.”

Geeta emphasizes that marriage is constant work. “Married life is hard work, it is work in progress and not something that you can take for granted. Tying the knot and having kids is just the beginning. You have to make time for each other, even as life gets busier with responsibilities and work.”

Drawing parallels between marriage and cricket, Harbhajan says, “It’s easy to walk away, but marriage isn’t like a cricket match where you can decide you don’t want to play anymore. You can’t back off saying ki mujhe aur test match nahi khelni hai. Every relationship has its own ups and downs. You have to work on it continuously to make things work.”

Speaking about couples they admire, Geeta and Harbhajan feel that Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have set a commendable standard. “They’re an ideal couple,” Geeta says.

Reflecting on what leads to marriages breaking down, Harbhajan says, “It all comes down to personal choice and emotional strength. Pressure, triggers and life situations can push people to make decisions. Ego should never come in the way. Communication, patience and emotional maturity are key to sustaining a relationship.”

Geeta adds, “At the heart of it all, there has to be love. You can’t live with someone for the sake of it.”

Looking back at the early days of their relationship, Geeta recalls how cultural differences and contrasting career backgrounds posed challenges. “Though we’re both Punjabi, we were raised very differently. I grew up in the UK, and Harbhajan in Punjab. Our perspectives, our education — everything was different. We had to adjust to each other’s worlds,” she shares.

After a break from the film industry, Geeta is ready to return to the big screen. Geeta, who was a part of films like Dil Diya Hai (2006) and The Train (2007), was last seen in the Punjabi film Lock (2016). “This year is exciting. You’ll see me in Awasthi vs Awasthi and the Punjabi film Mehr.”

Meanwhile, Harbhajan, who has made cameo appearances in multiple films and played the lead in the Tamil film Friendship (2021), wants to take up meaningful roles. “If I could pick a role, I’d love to play a fauji. I want to be part of films that deal with real stories,” he says.

Meanwhile, the two are also busy with their new online chat show, called Who's The Boss? that focuses on relationships and features celebrity couples.

Harbhajan Singh might be juggling multiple roles—one of an off-spinner slaying it at the ongoing IPL season in Dubai with the Kolkata Knight Riders, another of a doting father to his newborn, but today, he is most excited about the release of his first acting venture—the Tamil film called Friendship directed by John Paul Raj and Sham Surya. Why did Singh, a proud Punjabi, choose a Tamil film as his first?

He laughs when we ask him this over a call. “I was offered a Punjabi film before this, but I didn’t have the time to pursue a movie while playing cricket,” says Singh, who is enjoying the surge of love from his fan base since playing with the Chennai Super Kings until 2020. “Initially, I declined the film. Tamil is a tough language to master, but they were persistent. I heard the script and took four months to get back to them.”

Singh accepts that his knowledge of Tamil is restricted to pleasantries, but he ensured he mastered the dialogues. “I didn’t dub the film because I had to come to Abu Dhabi for the IPL. Someone else dubbed for me,” explained the cricketer, who says that he was sold on the movie for its strong message of women empowerment. Apparently, the language was the least of his worries. He says emoting is hard. 

“When someone dies in a scene, you have to live that. Scenes like that were unnerving and demanding. Much like cricket, it is something that you get better at with practice.” Having embarked on this journey, he is still unsure where it will take his career.

Given his calibre as a sportsman, biopic offers often flood in, but the cricketer is focused on writing his memoir. “Harbhajan Singh is much more than the cricket he played on the field. My story is about where I come from and the difficulties I have powered through in the cricketing universe,” he says, adding  that he doesn’t plan on playing safe. “I want to tell everyone what happened to me along the way. I have had many supporters and roadblocks. I know my story is more than just scoreboards.” Hoping that his journey “inspires people to follow their passion”, Singh confirms that the book will hit the stands by January 2022.

It was in 2007 that Harbhajan Singh had decided that he wanted to marry Geeta Basra. They finally got hitched eight years later. Now that they have tied the knot, they say that life has come a full circle. In their first interview post marriage, the couple talks about their journey from being friends to husband and wife.

So, has the feeling sunk in that you guys are married now?
Geeta: It's been one hell of a week and by the end of it, we were totally exhausted but didn't want it to end because everyone was together - friends and family - after years. I think my entire family came together after 25 years.
Harbhajan: It was more tiring than playing a Test match. Obviously I had a lot of fun, all my friends and family members were around, but it was tiring.
Geeta: Imagine dancing through the day and night. So much of partying, so many sleepless nights. While playing cricket, they have strict timings - going to sleep by 10.30 pm-11 pm max and then waking up by 6 am or 7 am. But during these last few days, we were sleeping at 6 am and then had to get ready for the next function. Being an actress, I am accustomed to such schedules but we still get rest and breaks in between. But this was a different experience and what you would call a big, fat Punjabi wedding.
Harbhajan: It was a very, very fat wedding.

Did you wait for the right time to get married?
Geeta: Well, I had always said that I am not getting married during the summer. My friends, family and I didn't want to not enjoy because of the heat. I think we had always planned that whenever we get married, we will enjoy and the weather will be good.
Harbhajan: See, we were planning when to get married. Obviously, it had lot to do with when I got the time ­ when the ODI series was to finish and the Test series was about to start in the next 10 days. More importantly, I also wanted my friends from the cricket circle to be part of the wedding and make this occasion memorable. We had thought that we would get married in February this year, lekin phir date postpone ho gayi because I got back into playing mode. But this time, we decided to take advantage of my 10-day break.
Geeta: Before the wedding, ek baar toofan aaya and then the earthquake right before the day our functions were about to start. So we had the blessings of the rain gods, dharti ke bhagwan. I think everyone blessed us.
Harbhajan: The best part was that the weather became so pleasant during those few days. And as far as the earthquake is concerned, meri zindagi mein waise hi aane waale tha, pehle hi aa gaya!

Before news about your wedding came out, you never accepted or denied your relationship...
Harbhajan: I don't understand why I need to go out in public and say I am doing this or that. Ultimately, the relationship is between me and her. We know what our relationship is like. What was there to say when she was there in all the matches? She knows it, I know it, my friends and family know. Uske baavjood koi stamp paper sign karna tha, wohi hi nahi kiya.
Geeta: Ho gaya na aaj stamp. We never denied it. We never admitted it. We didn't speak about it because I felt that if you speak about it once, then that's the only thing you end up talking about with everyone. Our personal life is very private. I am still a little open, but he wants his own space. We have always said that whenever we get married, we will announce it and talk about it. And we didn't hide it.

But there was always conjecture about your wedding...
Geeta: We were supposedly married seven times before the actual wedding. Mere dates set ho gaye thay, jagah decide ho gayi thi, guest list set ho gaya tha. Hum bas padhte gaye. That's what happened in the last couple of years. We just kept reading about our wedding and laughed it off.
Harbhajan: Main toh isko kai baar bolta tha I hope I am invited too. And last do-teen din mein hum padh rahe hain about 'our' wedding.

So, how did your love story begin?
Harbhajan: I saw her in a song ­ Woh Ajnabee ­ when I was playing county cricket in London. I told my friend, 'I want to meet this girl.' I know many people in Bollywood now, but at that time I didn't have too many friends in the filmi circuit. I told a couple of friends ki, 'Mujhe isse milao yaar, kaun hai yeh.' When we went to South Africa and won the T-20 World Cup, I got her number from a friend and messaged her, 'I am so and so and I would like to meet you over tea or coffee'. She didn't reply for three-four days. After we came back from South Africa, all she wrote was, 'Well done on winning the 2020 World Cup. We are very proud of you and all the best. Keep making all Indians proud'. I said, 'Wow, that's a nice reply to what I asked'. Then when the first season of the IPL was about to start, she messaged me, 'I need two tickets'. So I said, 'Okay, ticket toh de hi deta hoon'. And then it was during the IPL that we met. I think isko laga ki inhone tickets di hain, toh ek baar toh milna chahiye. She met me for coffee and then we became friends and after that, we got into a relationship. She made me wait for long and said, 'We will be friends first and then see'. For me, it was love at first sight.
Geeta: I was genuinely not interested. At that moment in my life, I wasn't interested in getting into a relationship. I was very new to India and the industry. The Train had just released and my focus was on movies. I knew if I got into a relationship, then things will change. He pursued me for 10 months. During that time, the media kept linking us because we were clicked having coffee somewhere, but we were just friends. We always met with a group of friends. Hum kabhi akele nahi milte thay, phir bhi media mein aa gaya that we were together. I think the media also played a role in getting us together. I realised one day that he's a nice guy, you don't find a lot of nice guys these days. My friends loved him and they gave me the go-ahead.
Harbhajan: Actually, iske friends ko main zyaada pasand tha.
Geeta: There was a time, when I told him, 'Let's stop talking. You move on and I move on'. And then I realised that there was such a void. In October 2008, I told him, 'You should just find someone and settle down'. That's what he wanted at that time.
Harbhajan: Yes, I wanted to settle down.
Geeta: He wanted to get married but I wasn't interested. But I think destiny had other plans. When something has to happen, it will happen. It was a couple of months back that we decided that we should get married during the week when he had his off.

Did you also discuss with your friends about Geeta?
Harbhajan: Obviously, you discuss with your friends, but in the end, you decide for yourself.
Geeta: He knows what he wants. He's not a person who needs to consult somebody. I remember, when I had met him initially for a couple of times, he had told me, 'You are the girl I want to get married to'. This was in 2007, before we were even together. He had told his friends also.

A cricketer's relationship status and whether his wife or girlfriend is accompanying him has become a huge issue...
Harbhajan: Agar bad results hain, toh relationship ki wajah se hain. Agar achche results hain, toh relationship ka koi impact nahi hai. This is sad. Kai baar baat hoti hai, ki woh player achcha nahi khela kyunki uski girlfriend thi wahan. Kyun, girlfriend ne wahaan jaake batting ya bowling ki? It's not right to blame anyone. It's a game, sometimes you will have off days. We hardly discuss cricket when we are together.
Geeta: I have never travelled with him. The first India match that I saw was the India-Pakistan match in Mohali (The 2011 World Cup match). People have this perception that I travel a lot with the team and I have seen his matches, but I haven't. I have seen his IPL matches in Mumbai, but this was the only year that I went to Kolkata and Hyderabad to watch the semifinals and finals. I have always seen his matches on TV.

Geeta, how much do you understand cricket now?
Geeta: Thoda bahut pata hai. I know a lot more now than what I used to know. I didn't know who he was earlier since I was new to India and I'm not from a sporty family.
Harbhajan: Once during an IPL match I suddenly got out. And isko pata hi nahi chala ki main out hoke bahaar ja raha hoon. She was the only one in that stand joh jhanda lehra rahi th ki jaise main chakka maar ke aaya hoon.
Geeta: Mujhe laga isne chakka ya chauka maara hai. Utna toh I know now but I'm unaware of the technicalities, like what is a silly point or gully.
Harbhajan: Mumbai Indian match jeet gaye, India match jee gaya, Bhajji ne accha kiya. Isko itna pata hota hai.

You both come from differen backgrounds. How has the journey been for you guys?
Geeta: From London to Jalandhar, it's a huge transition.
Harbhajan: Normally, it's the other way round. Youngsters from Punjab go abroad to work
Geeta: Mere saath ulta ho gaya. Main London se Jalandhar aa gayi. It's been a heck of a journey. But it's been fun. There are many places to see and a lo more to experience. My friends from the UK came to Punjab for the first time to attend the wedding. We had a blast. We got married at the hotel where we had our first date in Punjab. So, life has come a full circle for us.

Where are you heading for your honeymoon?
Harbhajan: To be honest, I don't know at the moment. We were planning to go to Seychelles, but I have to see what is coming up, in terms of cricket. I need to get back to playing and we will see when we get time. It could be next week or next month.