It took some convincing for one of India's fiercest pace bowlers, Zaheer Khan to open up on his romantic side, life beyond cricket and how he was bowled over by Chak De girl Sagarika Ghatge. But once he did, even his gorgeous actress fiancée seemed mesmerised as he showed up in a majestic sherwani for our photoshoot. In an elaborate chat, he dropped his guard and revealed his witty personality often hidden behind a straight face and stoic demeanour. A little less than a month before their marriage, the couple played perfect hosts as they welcomed us into their plush Parel residence, which in Zaheer's words 'isn't a bachelor pad anymore'. Excerpts from the couple's joint interview with Bombay Times, on how they fell in love and more. Read on...

Zaheer, your wedding is just round the corner. What's the mood like in the house?
It's upbeat for me, stressful for Sagarika (smiles). She is the worrier, because she is more responsible as far as the timelines are concerned. With me, things go haywire.

A marriage is not just about two people, but two families coming together. Given this is an inter-religious marriage, was it smooth sailing for you two or did you have to brave some storms?
Zaheer: We didn't face any such issues. Both our families are evolved enough to understand that it's about marrying the right person over marrying into the same religion. It's important to be a good human being.
Sagarika: My parents are also open-minded and their primary concern was that I marry the right person. I am sure they may have had their apprehensions, but after meeting him, it cleared a lot of things for them. He is perfect.

What's the wedding ceremony going to be like? Will there be a nikaah and a Hindu wedding?
Zaheer: We are going to stay away from both. It will be a court marriage on November 27 in Mumbai. There will be a pre and post wedding functions. I am planning to have something in Pune as well, so the ceremony will go on for a few days. We want this to be a get-together for close friends and family.
Sagarika: We are also planning to have something in my hometown Kolhapur, sometime later.

Tell us how the love story began?
Sagarika: I met him three years ago. It was weird that every time I met him, my friends would tease us for some reason. We would be cordial with each other and stick to the regular 'Hi' and 'Hello'. But there were people, like my close friend, who thought we should be together even before we thought about it.
Zaheer: We both were in a different phase of our lives back then. We got to know each other through common friends. We don't know exactly when it started, but we eased into it.

What were your early impressions of each other?
Sagarika: Zaheer is a good host and is extremely well-mannered. For me it matters a lot. A guy needs to be chivalrous. That was my first impression of him - that he was humble. I am sure he had a different impression of me (laughs).
Zaheer: I am very relaxed and nonjudgmental in my approach. I let people be. This quality of mine, where I am unfazed by things, bothers my friends a lot.  Even Yuvraj pulls my leg and tells me that ticking all the boxes during the wedding prep is crazy and hectic. I guess he is envious of how calm I am.
Sagarika: And that's a good quality, but not always. It gets annoying for me. I end up telling him, “You have to have a reaction! You cannot be like that.“

Who made the first move? And how did the friendship graduate to romance?
Zaheer: One person had to take the lead, and it was me (smiles). Things started to get serious when I actually told her about it. Before that we would always meet as part of a group. We would enjoy each other's company, but I wasn't sure if she liked me or not. So I just told her, “I would like to take you out for dinner, but it should be just you and me, not with the gang.“ She thought I was joking about it! We always felt there was something between us, but didn't say it. We have different personalities, but are similar in a lot of ways as well. She is quite choosy about who she hangs out with and so am I. We take our time to open up to people. We both are introverted to a certain extent.
Sagarika: I always knew he was a good guy. Whenever I met this common friend of ours called Ritik, I would always tell him that Zaheer seems like a good guy. He knew that I never talk about anyone like that, so there was probably something more to this. What I liked about him the most was his humility. Despite achieving so much in life, he is grounded. That is one quality in him that I truly I admire. Sometimes I fly, but he is grounded.

Now that you've retired from international cricket, will that give you more time for your marriage?
Zaheer: Yes. People used to often ask me, why aren't you getting married? I can do only one thing at a time. The game is demanding and getting more professional now. To divide time between family and cricket is tough. Not just because of the nature of the game, but the amount of traveling that's involved. It's not easy for us to cope with with such pressures, especially if you want to start a famil .

Sagarika, given that he is a sportsman, was your family a Zaheer Khan fan before? And what about you Zaheer?
Sagarika: Everyone in the family has always been a sports fan, not just cricket. They love him also because he speaks in Marathi. Even I don't always talk to my mom in Marathi but he does and that worked.
Zaheer: When I shared the news with my parents, the first thing they did was get a CD of Chak De! India and watch it. That mutual admiration is there from both families.

Did you particularly remember her when you saw the film back then?
Zaheer: I did. All I knew was she didn't like cricketers in the movie back then.

Sagarika, how comfortable are you mingling with the cricket fraternity?
Sagarika: I never hung out with cricketers before. But his really close friends Ajit, Ashish, Yuvi are just like him, so it was easy to blend in. I think his friends like me more than him now. Even if I work in the films, I have my own set of friends. Everyone who knows me knew that I was never interested in marrying an actor or a cricketer.
Zaheer: She took her Chak De character too seriously (laughs).

Sagarika, was there a notion some where that actors or cricketers are less likely to commit?
May be that was at the back of my mind, but I will never accept it. I guess it was more about being in my com fort zone.

Did you have any apprehensions about marriage per se before finding one another?
Zaheer: Personally, I always believed that when you are ready, it comes to you. I've always looked at it that wa . So when I started dating her, that thought naturally came to my mind. She was apprehensive, but I had the clarity. I always believed in marriage.
Sagarika: I believed and respected the institution of marriage so much that it scared me as I expected so much out of it. You want it to be right.

Sagarika, are you fascinated with the term 'WAG' (Wives and Girlfriends of athletes)?
Sagarika: I am not happy with that term. I don't know why some people like it.
Zaheer: She is happy that I've retired and that no one will call her that.

Unlike a lot of celeb couples, you just went straight ahead and took to social media to announce your engagement.
Sagarika: That's how I have been and he is also like that. He has no pretense. Besides, there was nothing to hide in the first place. He wasn't fooling around and neither was I.
Zaheer: Once you have clarity in a relationship what's there to hide? That's how I have been all my life. Also when it comes to these things, it's very individualistic. Everyone looks at things differently . I did what I felt was right.

It's a classic case of life imitating art for Chak De! India actress Sagarika Ghatge, who got engaged to her cricketer beau Zaheer Khan on Monday in Goa. On her way back to Mumbai, she spoke to BT about her new innings, wedding plans and the celebrations that lie ahead. Excerpts...

THE CONNECTING FACTOR
Zaheer has achieved so much, but he is still very grounded. I have known him for two-three years now. Though we are very different, we share a few similarities as well. For instance, we are alike in terms of what we think of life and what we want from it. Also, we both love food.

WEDDING AND ENGAGEMENT
We will throw an engagement party after the (IPL) tournament ends. As far as the wedding is concerned, I'll sit with my parents and figure out a date. These days, all the good venues get booked in advance. So, once we get the venue, we'll decide on the date. There's no special date in our minds as such.

NOT HOUSE-HUNTING IN SOBO
Zac already has a pretty house in Mumbai, and I don't think we need another one right now. But if the need arises later, we will go ahead.

BREAKING THE NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
It was not planned. Zac does things his own way. I'm sure he just felt it right to announce the news on his social media page. And once he did that, I reacted to it. It was a happy moment for us. We thought instead of building up the speculation, we'd rather let everyone know ourselves. Zac and I are private people, but we wanted to share this news with everyone.

REAL LIFE RESEMBLING HER REEL ROLE IN CHAK DE! INDIA
It's a coincidence that Zaheer too is a cricketer (like her character's boyfriend was in the film), but there's no connect beyond that. What happened in the film was completely the opposite! Zac is not the kind of person who remembers much about films, but he had an idea that messages regarding it would follow (laughs!).

SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT
I always knew that he was going to propose, but didn't expect it in the middle of the cricket tournament. My mom and dad are very happy. Zaheer has interacted with them a lot and even they knew it would happen, just that no one knew when. For any good occasion, the right time is when you feel it. I am sure Zac found this time right enough to pop the question.