In February 2021, on the sets of the Telugu film Maha Samudram, Siddharth walked into Aditi Rao Hydari’s life with a ‘meet cute’ line. He looked at her, smiled, and said, “Hello, beautiful girl.” It was the kind of greeting that usually earns an eye-roll. But he was warm, and entirely unguarded. That was the first time he made her laugh.
By the end of that first day of shooting, he had not only won her over but had most of the set in splits. He was animated, quick-witted, mischievous without being intrusive. Between takes, he told stories and brought an ease to the atmosphere that dissolved first-day discomfort. For Aditi, who has always relied on instinct in matters of the heart, something clicked immediately. She often said that when she meets someone who feels like “her person,” she knows it without overthinking. With him, there was no slow burn of uncertainty.
The early days of their love saw Siddharth making sure she was comfortable on set. He was thoughtful. He arranged for ghee idlis to be sent for her and her team during the shoot, knowing she loved simple South Indian comfort food. He checked in to see if she had eaten. He lingered after pack-up to continue conversations that had started casually. There was attentiveness in the way he listened to her stories, about dance, about Hyderabad, about her grandmother, without interrupting, without steering the conversation back to himself.
Their love for cinema sealed the deal. Both had been deeply influenced by Mani Ratnam’s films long before they entered the industry. Siddharth had assisted Ratnam early in his career. Aditi, as a child, had watched the song “Kehna Hi Kya” from Bombay and felt something awaken in her.
Their romance unfolded without grand gestures. They dated quietly at first. Aditi, who has lived in Mumbai since 2011, moves through public spaces with ease, accustomed to crowds and cameras. Siddharth, despite two decades in cinema, is more private. Together, they found a rhythm as they began showing up at events, at dinners, at airports, accepting the flashing cameras but refusing to retreat into isolation.
For over a year, Siddharth had a running joke. Out of nowhere, he would drop to one knee in front of her in the classic proposal stance. Aditi would gasp or roll her eyes, only for him to calmly begin adjusting his shoelaces. It happened often enough that she stopped taking the gesture seriously.
So when he asked her one day if he could see the school her grandmother had founded in Hyderabad, she thought little of it. Her grandmother had been central to Aditi’s life and Siddharth knew this. He wanted to visit the exact spot where she had spent time as a child. Standing there, he went down on one knee again and proposed to her.
They announced their engagement on March 28, 2024. On September 15, 2024, they married in an intimate ceremony at a 400-year-old temple in Wanaparthy. The wedding was traditional, spiritual and joyful and far removed from kitschy opulence.
Life after marriage grew from what they built together. Siddharth cooks elaborate meals while she directs him about how much spice to add. They travel impulsively still, taking off from Cannes Film Festival, to Paris without rigid plans, walking into museums unannounced, drinking coffee at random cafés, and spending an entire day at Parc Astérix because Siddharth is an unabashed Asterix enthusiast. Spending Christmas in London at his sister’s Notting Hill home, cooking, decorating amid fairy lights and winter markets is becoming a norm!
With careers that pull them across Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, or abroad, they make their love story special. It is love that feels grown-up, between two people meeting as fully formed selves, choosing each other with clarity.
On Valentine’s Day, when love is often reduced to spectacle, theirs is about something enduring. Because sometimes, love doesn’t arrive with fireworks, it walks in, says hello, and ends up becoming home.