Vinay MR Mishra (BOMBAY TIMES; March 23, 2025)
Prateik Smita Patil and Priya Banerjee, the newly minted husband-and-wife duo, are “finally settling into married life”. The lovebirds tied the knot on Valentine’s Day in an intimate ceremony at Prateik’s ancestral home in Bandra, surrounded by close family and friends. The wedding was followed by a whirlwind mini-moon in Goa.
“We feel like a responsible married couple,” Prateik declares. The lovebirds address each other as “Husband” and “Wife”. “He is very serious about me calling him husband. But he is definitely a better husband (than a boyfriend),” Priya quips. “It is cringe, but it is cute. But we are both stepping up to our new titles,” Prateik states.
The two sit down for a chat with us, talking about their “fairytale yet intimate” wedding, and all the chatter around it.
‘Our wedding was too meaningful’
Talking about the wedding, Prateik recalls the moment Priya walked in as the bride to be the most beautiful moment for him. “We automatically cried together. We were bawling but we couldn’t let the tears out because she had her makeup,” Prateik recollects. Priya adds, “We had family with us. It was at home. It was so special. And this is what I wanted because I was never that girl who dreamed of a big wedding. It all fell in place in a weird way.”
Prateik states, “It was too meaningful. It had so much sentimental value for everybody involved; it was just perfect. It was blessed by my mother, my grandparents.”
‘All the controversy around our wedding was unnecessary’
Prateik and Priya’s dreamy wedding was not without its fair share of drama. Prateik’s step-brother-actor Aarya Babbar made unsolicited comments about their actor-father Raj Babbar and the family not being invited for the wedding.
Ask the couple if they were perturbed by all that was going on and Priya answers, “We were unfazed. It was all noise. My mom and dad were here all the way from Canada. I had my closest friends. He had his aunts, who raised him apart from his grandparents. Everybody was there who we loved. So, whatever happened, we honestly, don’t have any comments because it didn’t matter.”
Prateik, on the other hand, calls all of it “unnecessary”. “I’m really happy that it didn’t matter,” he says. Priya chimes in, “It could have ruined the rest of our life. It had potential. But I feel like we’ve been protected. We have guardian angels around us. I felt throughout this event that we were so into the whole event, the wedding, the marriage and we were into each other, we didn’t care about anything.”
‘If Prateik chooses to stay quiet, if I choose to stay quiet, that is actually out of respect and dignity’
Amidst the din of speculations, we question Prateik if he wishes to reveal the reason behind the conspicuous absence of his father and the Babbar family from the wedding. Before Prateik can respond, Priya, like a lioness protecting her partner, swiftly intervenes, “No, absolutely not. We don’t want to talk about it. And it’s not our place. It’s all online. It’s all on the internet. Let people go back in the past and read some articles perhaps from back in the day and find out what went down in anybody’s life before passing a reckless comment which can affect somebody’s special day. Nobody has any right to say anything about it. If Prateik chooses to stay quiet, if I choose to stay quiet, that is actually out of respect and dignity. That’s it. We do not want to speak about this and get in detail because we’re happy.”
‘There was never an equation with the Babbar family’
Ask Prateik if the episode will change his equation with the Babbar family and Priya replies, “There is nothing to change. There was never anything there. So, I’m confused when people comment, ‘You did this to somebody’. But no, that family was never there, that person (hinting at Raj Babbar) was never there in his life. So, I’m not sure why that question is coming up now, 30 years later.”
She adds, “Some people get limelight from talking about other people. You get a little bit of attention here and there when you talk about people. People will talk. We don’t have to hear it. We have to live our life. We have to be happy. We don’t have to sit and justify to the entire world. We’re not here to answer anybody. Nobody pays our bills.”
‘It’s complicated’
While in a previous interview Prateik mentioned about mending his ways with his family, remind that to the actor, and he clarifies, “When the time is right, I will chat about this. Let’s just leave it the way it is for now. It’s a bit complicated.”
Priya chimes in again, “It’s too much too… and not just an interview. This is not something you can just ask and somebody can explain it. It is somebody’s life we’re talking about. Somebody went through something for 30 years. Not a lot of people would understand what a kid goes through when they lose their mom at first, right? That’s the question I would like to ask everybody who’s trolling and asking questions. Did you lose your mom when you were two weeks old? And if you didn’t, I don’t think you have any right to comment here. Whoever spoke during our wedding, may that be a troller, may that be some family member, whoever, nobody lost their mother at two weeks old, right? Nobody has the right because nobody can understand what this person went through. Whenever he feels the time is right to speak about it, to speak about things that he has never spoken about, he will. He’s born into this industry. This industry is his friend. The media is his friend. He’s nothing to hide. He’s never hidden anything. His past, his present.”
Prateik further adds, “It’s extremely complicated for the time being and as Priya mentioned, when I am ready to talk about things that I haven’t before and that need to be spoken about, it will clear the air, not just for me, but for everybody, even that family.”
‘Every time something goes down, they always point fingers at a woman’
During their wedding, a lot of allegations were made against Priya, while many including Prateik’s stepbrother Aarya hinting her to be the reason behind the Babbar snub. Priya reveals it didn’t bother her at all, however, Prateik felt otherwise. “It did bother me. It was really riling me up, as people are pointing fingers at her, saying she’s the reason,” he says.
Priya adds, “It’s not new to us, not new to you, not new to the world. We know that every time something goes down, they always point fingers at a woman.”
‘I’m striving to be like my mother and not like my dad’
Prateik has shed his paternal surname, rebranding himself as Prateik Smita Patil. This deliberate decision to drop the Babbar name from his identity doesn’t worry Prateik, who is unworried about the potential impact on his career or public persona.
“I’m not thinking of any of that. I’m just thinking about what makes me and my soul feel better, and what makes my heart smile, not thinking if it will negatively affect my career. I don’t care about the repercussions. All I care about is the way I feel when I hear that name. I need to be wholly and solely associated with my mother (Smita Patil), her name and her legacy. I don’t think any other name needs to taint that legacy, if you understand what I mean. It needs to just be her name and her legacy. That’s what I’m striving to be. I’m striving to be like my mother and not like my dad. It feels like a new chapter.”
On a parting note, ask the couple if they are open to parenthood and pat comes Prateik’s reply, “I am ready”. “Our marriage and everything have been all about destiny. We are married now, we’ll see what happens next,” Priya concludes.