Elesh Parujanwala

Elesh Parujanwala

Rakhi Sawant, who's getting married on live TV on August 2, has made it very clear that she wouldn't be leaving her work behind to join her husband.

Nor, would she like a ghar-damaad kind of house-husband. While she was all set to settle for a long-distance marriage, Toronto-based entrepreneur Elesh Parujanwala has done the next best thing. He has decided to shift base to Mumbai from Toronto.

Speaking from his hideout in Mumbai, Elesh was surprisingly calm and clear-headed about his future plans. "There won't be any need for a long-distance marriage, or for Rakhi to join me in Toronto. I've already shifted a part of my business from Toronto to Mumbai, and I intend to stay put in Mumbai for a very long time."

Speaking on how a well-to-do Canadian-Indian boy ended up being on a show, where he's one of Rakhi Sawant's prospective grooms, Elesh laughed, "At first I was skeptical. In fact I initially expressed my misgivings to the programme's creators. I didn't want my children to one day ask me why I married their mom on a game show. But I'm glad I came on Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. It isn't a game, though it may be a show being watched by millions. For Rakhi, and for me, it's a matter of life and death."

Elesh says he grew up on a staple diet of Bollywood in Toronto. "I used to watch Rakhi Sawant in her films and her music videos. At that time, I never thought I'd one day be asking her hand for marriage. Life is funny."

Incidentally, the decision to marry Elesh above the other short-listed candidates came from Rakhi's brother Ravi Kissan, who apparently reprimanded her strongly for even considering any of the other boys.

Says Ravi, "Elesh always stood out, and I told this to Rakhi. The less said about some of the other contestants, the better. One of them, Manmohan Tiwari had so much attitude; it was almost like he was trying to be small screen's Ravi Kissan. Sadly the channel encouraged him to behave the way he did, arguing that it enhanced the TRPs. He behaved very badly with Rakhi. He had a girlfriend tucked away all the time. Why was he wooing Rakhi then? I told her, Elesh was the best guy for her."