Love story of Upen Patel, Deepika Padukone

By: Upala KBR, Mid-Day
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Nobody knows of the clandestine tryst between B-Town"s latest Casanova Upen Patel and Om Shanti Om heroine Deepika Padukone. They met, went around and broke up — not once, but twice!

Says a source close to Upen, “Deepika and Upen have known each other since their modelling days. Around the time they started dating, Upen wasn"t serious about a long-term relationship.

He was dating many women and broke up with Deepika. Soon after, the Bangalore-based Deepika moved to Mumbai to join Anupam Kher"s acting classes and met Nihar Pandya. They fell in love and she moved into his house." Presently, the actress has shifted into her own flat in Bandra.

Ex recall

A friend of the couple reveals that they had another tryst after she moved to Mumbai. “They never stopped talking to each other. Last year, after he split with Shamita Singha, Upen and Deepika connected again.

Deepika had broken off with Nihar then, but the pair soon realised that they actually loved their respective partners and went back to them."

The friend says Upen is very fond of Nihar Pandya. “Nihar is a very nice guy. He"s the one who introduced Deepika to Himesh Reshammiya (Deepika starred in his music video), Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan.

She met Farah Khan during the time when she was doing Happy New Year, which ultimately got shelved. But Farah liked her star quality and signed her for Om Shanti Om."

No looking back

Upen is reluctant to talk about Deepika. All he says is, “I have never spoken about my personal affairs or link-ups and will never do so. I don"t think it"s the right thing to do.

I am deeply in love with Shamita (Singha) and don"t want to talk about the past. Yes, I knew Deepika well, but today both of us have moved on — so let the past be."