Genelia D’Souza hopes to focus on her wedding preparations

Ever since Genelia D’Souza’s wedding to boyfriend, actor Riteish Deshmukh has been announced, the actress has been inundated with calls and congratulatory messages. Apparently, while many of her co-stars here were aware of the duo dating, as their affair was an open secret in Bollywood, down South it came as a surprise to everyone.

Many felt that though Genelia feels as much at home down South, as she does here in Bollywood, the actress had never shared that aspect of her life with anyone there. But a source close to the actor says that for her there’s never been any distinction between the two industries. “Genelia has never spoken about her personal life either in South or in Bollywood. But it was less of a surprise here for natural reasons — Riteish has a strong Bollywood connect. In fact, even today, Gen prefers not to talk about her personal life at all,” says a source.

Sources agree that the affair that’s being tagged as the ‘best-kept open-secret’ remained speculative until the marriage date was declared and that the only ones who knew about it for sure, knew it as friends, not co-stars or colleagues. “Riteish has more friends in Bollywood than Genelia. Most of her friends are outside of the industry, so those close to the couple were well-aware, but none of them ever acknowledged the two as a couple publicly. It’s not that they were requested not to speak about them dating, but it’s something that they understood and respected the couple’s need to keep it private,” adds another source.

Explaining her reasons, Genelia says, “Once you start talking about personal matters, there’s simply no stopping them. First it’s buzz of link-ups, the moment you’d admit to that, next people start speculating and talking about a break-up! No matter how much you clarify, speculations anyways won’t end, so why get into that space in the first place? I don’t feel the need to clarify, justify or simply talk about my personal life. Of course, I am ready to be grilled as far as my professional life is concerned.”

For now, the actress has just wrapped up a film down South with actor Rana Daggubati and is gearing for the release of Tere Naal Pyaar Ho Gaya, her film here with Riteish. “But right now, Genelia’s planning to focus only on the wedding and the preparations. She, her family and friends are all super-excited about the wedding and helping her out with the trousseau, et al. It will be a super-busy month for her, but she’s a hassle-free girl, so it’s unlikely for her to be stressing out about anything,” adds the source.