Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt got married to art connoisseur Shwetambari Soni in a hush-hush ceremony in September 2020. His daughter from his first marriage, Krishna now admits that she had no idea about this and tells us that he broke the news to her “suddenly” earlier this year. “Maybe dad thought that I was still a little girl who could not accept this fact. So he told me suddenly. I don’t remember the exact date or time though. But it is what it is,” says Krishna, 26, who is also a filmmaker.

She further says it was not like he made a passing reference about his re-marriage, but sat down to have a proper conversation with her. “He explained to me that he has married again. For the first 13 years of my life, I was not very close to my dad. And after that, there was a period where my father did not have any relationships. We both built a father-daughter bond and it was very beautiful, and that is the most important thing to me. As long as my relationship with my father remains beautiful, as long as it stays healthy and strong, I do not want to dwell on anything else,” says Krishna.

Has she had a chance to interact with Soni yet? She replies, “We have not, because the wedding happened during the lockdown. I stay with my mother, it was not like we would have been able to talk. I haven’t been able to meet dad, so that has not happened.”

The father-daughter duo share a good professional relationship as well. She says they had worked together on a show called Sanak: Ek Junoon, which was written by him and directed by her. “There’s a film together in the pipeline too, but it’s still under wraps,” she ends.

Some things are sacred, nurtured away from the prying eyes, and meant to be shared with the world only when the time is right. Vikram Bhatt would agree. On Wednesday, the filmmaker posted a loving birthday message for art curator Shwetambari Soni, thus going public with their year-long marriage. The two, who met in 2016 through a mutual friend, tied the knot in September last year. “It was a private ceremony at my home, with her three sisters and my family in attendance. Even my friends couldn’t come. We had initially thought of having a [grand] wedding, but the pandemic [played spoilsport],” begins the director.

His love for art made Bhatt cross paths with Soni — the two were to work on an exhibition together. While the exhibition didn’t work out, the love story did. “What I love about Shweta is that she is intelligent, and more frank than me. She doesn’t belong to the world of films, so I love coming home to someone who has been in a completely different world. I bounce my ideas off her as Shweta is astute with stories. She is honest with her feedback, especially if the story is crap,” he laughs.

Three years of dating later, they felt ready to take the relationship to the next level. The proposal — a far cry from the typical candle-lit dinners and puerile promises — was rooted in true companionship. “My father was hospitalised at the time. When the doctor recommended an angioplasty for him, we gave the go-ahead. Then, Shweta asked me, ‘If this happens to either of us, who will take [the call]? A partner doesn’t have any rights.’ We realised that companionship was fine, but we needed a more formal relationship.”

Having been candid about his previous relationships, it was uncharacteristic of Bhatt to keep his marriage under wraps for a year. He attributes the decision to their kids — while the filmmaker has daughter Krishna from his earlier marriage, Soni is mother to Arhavir and Adiraj from her previous marriage. “There’s my daughter Krishna; Shweta has children, so I could not speak about it till they were okay with it. Now, they are. At 52, what I have with Shweta is not a crazy love affair, but a content, happy relationship.”