Living in... ain’t no sin!

NICHOLA PAIS takes a look at film land’s couples who have had a live-in relationship before they got hitched.

Back in the Sizzling Seventies, there was wild child Parveen Babi who cocked a snook at society to live-in with her lovers Danny Denzongpa, Mahesh Bhatt and Kabir Bedi. “We lived together for four years… that was big news those days,” Danny recalls. Stunning, stormy Parveen however was the exception to the norm, till several decades later, a scion of a princely family and a descendant of filmland’s first family came together to openly share a roof minus the sanction of a marriage certificate – and suddenly it was absolutely kosher to shack up. “Try and live-in together before getting married to the person,” Kareena advised with all the sageness of a relationship expert, “This will help you understand each other.” Cohabiting had become almost mandatory – in love, must live-in. “Yes, I am in a live-in relationship with Ankita and I am fine about it. Both our parents are okay with our decision as well. I never felt the need to hide my live-in relation,” Sushant Singh Rajput has shrugged with insouciance, as has the otherwise image-conscious Aamir Khan. “Kiran had a certain positive effect on me,” he had revealed about their early relationship. “I started getting serious about her when I asked her to move in. Otherwise I would not have done that. We lived together for a year and a half before getting married.” Imran Khan, who cohabited with girlfriend Avantika before they went on to tie the knot, opined that living-in was a good idea “as it helps you know if you can share a house with the person.” And if you realise there’s more snarling and less sharing happening, far easier to say your goodbyes and go your separate ways rather than contend with messy – not to mention prohibitively expensive - divorce battles, right, Ranbir-Katrina?