Love conquers all: When Mukesh Ambani proposed to Nita at a signal; Bhavish Aggarwal’s broke coffee dates

The Reliance Industries Chairman popped the question, insistent on an answer amidst the traffic snarls.

By Masoom Gupte, ET Bureau | Updated: Feb 14, 2019, 06.34 PM IST

On the left are Mukesh and Nita Ambani, on the right are Bhavish Aggarwal and Rajalakshmi.

They may be married to their work, but these top business names have interesting tales of how they met and wooed their better halves.

Mukesh & Nita Ambani
Dhirubhai Ambani spotted his future daughter-in-law at a dance recital. The story goes that he called her a couple of days later and asked her to come see him at his office. After some chatting, he asked if she’d like to meet his elder son, Mukesh. Of course, she did eventually meet Mukesh. And a few meetings later, at a busy intersection in Mumbai, the billionaire industrialist popped the question, insistent on an answer amidst the traffic snarls. Everyone now knows how that went.

ambani mukesh nita — Mukesh and Nita Ambani at daughter Isha's wedding.

Nyrika Crishna & Yeshwant Holkar
They weren’t exactly childhood sweethearts. But they can definitely say that they first locked eyes, in a manner of speaking, as toddlers. When Nyrika and Yeshwant were getting married in 2015, the bride’s mother, Smita Crishna, told ETPanache that the two first met as toddlers at the West Wind nursery school in Mumbai. They then went their separate ways, connecting years later as adults in the city where they first met. Life came full circle for these two.

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Pranay & Tina Chulet
The Quikr founder and his future wife were introduced by mutual friends. In an earlier interview, Tina said, “My friend had moved to India from New York with her husband. One day I went for a movie with them and Pranay was there. My friend’s husband and Pranay went to IIM-Calcutta together.

I don’t know if it was an intentional set up.” Her friend felt that Pranay and she would get along. But a fifth person, another girl, was also present at this first meeting, ensuring that it didn’t have the markings of an obvious set up. This was in 2009, and the rest is history.

Sanjay & Pinky Reddy
When the two got engaged, Sanjay was pursuing his undergraduate studies in engineering at Purdue University in the US. In an earlier interview, Pinky was quoted saying, “We’d [Sanjay and I] talk to each other for hours on the telephone.

Once when the telephone bill exceeded the highest limit, my father was shocked and told me that it would be cheaper to get me married rather than deal with the mounting telephone bills.” So they did, and moved to Ann Arbor, spending months decorating their first apartment together.

Bhavish Aggarwal & Rajalakshmi

Bhavish is credited with creating the unicorn that is Ola Cabs, but his wife Rajalakshmi played an equally important role. Apparently, when the couple were dating, Bhavish would often be broke and unable to even pay for coffee. “I’m a Bania so I was okay with her paying for our coffee. It was an investment,” Bhavish said in an earlier interview. Not surprisingly, when he won the Entrepreneur of the Year title in 2017, he thanked his wife with these words: “In 10 years of being together, six while dating and four in marriage, my wife has never once complained about my physical or mental absence in our relationship.”

Isha, Anand Tie The Knot: Mukesh, Anil Keep It Traditional In Kurtas; A Glittering Guest-List At 'Antilia'

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Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal got married in a traditional ceremony at the former's Altamount Road residence, 'Antilia', after 8 months of courtship. The 33-year-old Piramal scion proposed to the 27-year-old Reliance heiress in Mahabaleshwar, earlier this year.

Many top industrialists, politicians, sports personalities and Bollywood stars arrived at the Ambani residence to be a part of the high-profile wedding.

Here's a look at who all headlined the event.