Master of all! Shibani Dandekar is all praises for beau Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar, one of the hottest couples in Bollywood, are said to have known each other since 2015. Shibani was a participant of the show 'I Can Do That' hosted by Farhan Akhtar. (All photos/Farhan and Shibani's official Instagram account)

In August 2018, Farhan Akhtar was on a tour of the US and Canada with music composers, Shankar-Ehsaan and Loy, when he posted a picture with Shibani Dandekar and a few other friends. Netizens went on an overdrive discussing whether there is more to their friendship. And rumours of Farhan Akhtar dating Shibani Dandekar started doing rounds ever since.

Farhan Akhtar was married to hairstylist Adhuna Bhabani for 16 years. After a courtship of three years, the couple wed in 2000 and divorced in 2016.

Farhan Akhtar and Adhuna Bhabani have two daughters together - Shakya, aged 19, and Akira, aged 13. Shakya and Akira, both the daughters, are close to their father as much as with their mom!

In September 2018, Shibani Dandekar shared this picture with Farhan Akhtar, almost making it official. Fans caught a whiff of the new romance in Akhtar's life, when Dandekar posted this picture of herself walking down a street in London, hand-in-hand with a "mystery man".

"I am not secretive, but I don't feel the need to say things out loud," said Shibani Dandekar when mid-day quizzed her about then rumours linking her with Farhan Akhtar.

Shibani further added, "I don't need to make an announcement about who I'm dating. It's up to me to decide when and what I want to share about my personal life, and it is up to the audience to decide how they look at it. How much information I want to put out in the public domain is my prerogative."

The duo remained tight-lipped about their relationship equation for many months. "We are public figures, so people are entitled to say what they want to. But I don't care about their opinion. I'm aware of who I am and I'm comfortable with who I choose to date," said Dandekar.

Though Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar never spoke about their relationship publicly, the two started throwing caution to the wind by indulging in PDA online.

Instances like Farhan Akhtar referring to Shibani Dandekar as 'love' on social media, or posting a picture with Shibani and captioning it in the cheesiest way possible: "As long as I have you. As long as you are, I'll never be lost. Shine on.. beautiful star" made things clear that their relationship was going strong.

Soon after, b-town was buzzing that the duo will exchange rings. Farhan Akhtar (at the trailer launch of his production, Gully Boy) also threw hints that there will be another announcement soon from his end, but the film's event was not the right platform for it.

A few months later, roughly in March 2019, Farhan and Shibani's loved-up snapshot on Instagram had the two flaunting rings. The actor-filmmaker posted the picture and wrote, "There's something so real about holding hands, a kind of complex simplicity, saying so much by doing so little - Unknown (sic)."

Needless to say, netizens were pretty much convinced that Farhan has popped the question and the two are engaged. Congratulations had also been pouring in though they had not confirmed the buzz. Perhaps it was just Insta official!

Soon, Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar made headlines after reports of their impending wedding made the rounds.

In a talk show, Tape Cast season 2 with Bhumi Pednekar, the actress in a segment titled, 'Do Not Play cassette' played a cassette for Farhan, which had Shibani popping out the marriage question to him. She asked, "When are we getting married?". Akhtar couldn't stop blushing and without dodging the question, he replied to Shibani saying, "I don't know. Maybe April or May."

Not just this, Farhan spoke at length about the equation he shares with Shibani and their relationship. He said, "She is an amazing woman. It's been very special, the last year... You know we've been getting to know each other and I couldn't be happier about it. But with the social media world again, we are constantly being told about the things we should be doing (laughs). But yeah, I have never felt so comfortable to share my personal stuff but I don't know, I just feel like somehow with celebrating all this, it just feels very natural to me."

Speaking about being open on social media about his relationship with Shibani, Farhan added, "I mean, obviously you don't want to go like crazy and people are like please 'bass kar' but ya, it feels nice to share that because we are always living so sheltered and you are always so protected and your guards are constantly up; especially when it comes to people like your partner in your life and you don't want people to know. I just felt like it's rather nicer to share it with people and include them in the joy and let them feel happy, hopefully. Some might feel a bit jealous that she's with me."

Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar do not shy away from the media or the public glare to profess their care and love for each other. And that's what we totally adore about you, both!

P.S: Happy birthday, Farhan!