Ahead of veteran actor Dharmendra’s 90th birthday, fans are revisiting a heartwarming story from the Deol family archives — how Bobby Deol’s wife, Tania Deol, first met her father-in-law. The tale, filled with chance encounters, late-night calls, and a touch of nervous excitement, feels straight out of a cinematic script.

A chance encounter at Trattoria

In a throwback interview, Tania recalled that her first brush with Bobby happened at Trattoria, a popular Mumbai restaurant, where she was dining with her brother and friends. “Bobby knew one of them. And then we bumped into each other a couple of times at night. I didn’t say hello because I didn’t know him,” she said, laughing.

Their next meeting took place at Chunky Panday’s Diwali party, where Bobby sat down to play cards with Tania. “He kept losing to me but wouldn’t pay. He said, ‘I will take you out for a meal.’ I thought, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’” Tania remembered.

Bobby then took a bold step. “It was some absurd hour, and I was fast asleep. I picked up the call without knowing who it was and said, ‘I will call you tomorrow,’” Tania said. A week later, Bobby called again at a more reasonable hour, and the two spoke for seven to eight hours straight. “It was like a fairytale. We didn’t even go on a date; we kept attending parties. One night, he insisted on dropping me home, and at my door, he asked me to marry me,” she recalled.

Meeting Dharmendra and the Deol family

When it came time to meet Bobby’s parents — Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur — Tania, just 19 at the time, was understandably nervous. “I was really quite nervous, dressed in a salwar-kameez. His parents were warm and welcoming, which made me feel comfortable and at ease,” she said.

Six months later, Bobby and Tania tied the knot in a grand wedding attended by over 10,000 guests. Tania humorously added, “Initially, it was Bobby and me, and eventually the family took over and we were just sidelined.”

Today, nearly three decades later, Bobby and Tania continue to embody warmth and grace, raising their two sons — Aryaman and Dharam — while balancing family life, work, and the limelight.