Exclusive! Manushi Chhillar refutes dating Veer Pahariya: No way; he is a good friend

Beauty queen-turned-actress Manushi Chhillar strutted her catwalk for designer Tarun Tahliani. She donned a bridal look wearing a corset and a lehenga. “It wasn't your traditional bridal Indian wedding couture. It was so modern, so young, it was understated. It had the right balance of couture with comfort,” says Manushi. Fresh off the ramp, Manushi sits down for a chat with Bombay Times, talking about movies and her personal life.

'We don't have the luxury to fail a lot'
Manushi made her debut with the historical drama Samrat Prithviraj in 2022. In the following two years, she had two Hindi movie releases - The Great Indian Family (2023) and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan(2024). All three movies didn’t perform well at the box office. Ask Manushi about her attachment towards her projects and failure, and she replies, “In life, we don't have the luxury to fail a lot, which is great because if you keep reminding yourself of that, you'll always put your best foot forward. Then I learned to have a certain amount of balance. You need to be attached enough to be able to give it your 100%. When you do a film, it's not about getting passing marks. It's about always giving your 100%. Sometimes, even if you give you 100%, it might not even translate on screen or it might not stitch in well together. It's important to understand that you're one person who's a part of this big process of making a film. So, you must be attached enough to do your best, but beyond that, you need to move on.”

‘How does it affect anyone's life as to what I'm doing in my personal life?’


While she is navigating through her professional life, she is also learning how to react to the keen attention towards her personal life. “I always grew up with a certain kind of attention. I was popular in school, in my area and etc. However, the kind of attention I got after Miss World was another level. While it comes from a lot of love, it did initially surprise me and to a certain extent also annoy me. I used to be like, ‘How does it affect anyone's life as to what I'm doing in my personal life?’ I remember this one incident which was a little too much, where my marksheet from college was on the internet. That was so unnecessary. So, I can set boundaries with what I reveal to the world. And I think certain things are meant to be kept to myself, so I just keep them to myself,” she explains.

'A lot of things written about my personal life have been completely false'
The 27-year-old further opens up about the speculations about her dating life. She reveals, “There's a certain interest people have as to what's going on in your personal life. I have guy and girl friends and I feel if I hang out too much with my girlfriends, does it look like I'm not interested in boys or if I'm hanging out with any of my guy friends, are people gonna think we're dating? But now I think I've reached a stage where I'm okay. This is my life. I'm going to live my life. And if you're so archaic that you don't understand the guy and that a guy and girl can just be friends or share common interests, you can enjoy whatever entertainment you get. It's of no consequence knowing who's doing what in their personal life. I just live with it. Personally, I don't feel the need to (clarify). However, the negative of it is that when you don't reveal too much, then it gives more space for stories to just be formed out of thin air. I can say that a lot of things written about my personal life have been completely false. That's the downside of being a little private.”

'He is a good friend'
So, we ask Manushi directly about the rumours of her dating actor Veer Pahariya . The two were spotted at the last year’s Ambani wedding, which led to the rumours of them dating. “Oh, my God, poor Veer. No way. No (we are not dating), absolutely not. He's a good friend. He was lovely enough to give me company during a wedding where I didn't know anyone. That's pretty much it. That's my only interaction with the boy,” she concludes.