Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala reveal their 'old school' first date; share how Telugu language played a role in their love story

Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala tied the knot earlier this month. The couple have finally spoken about how they met and spoke about their first date

Actors Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala tied the not on December 4 at the Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad. The couple dated for two years before becoming husband and wife. In an interview with the New York Times the actors spoke about their courtship period and how their mother tongue played a role in strengthening their bond. 

How Telugu played a role in their love story

The couple first had a passing meet in 2018 at Chaitanya's father Nagarjuna Akkineni's residence. She was invited by the senior actor who admired her performance in the 2018 film 'Goodachari'. But they spoke for the first time only in 2022, a year after Chaitanya got divorced from his then-wife Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Their conversation began when Dhulipala replied to Chaitanya's Instagram story regarding a sushi place in Hyderabad. They soon started bonding over their common native language-Telugu. 

“Just hearing that same texture and having that same warmth when you speak to someone — I think it just drew me closer so much faster,” he said. Chaitanya was born in Hyderabad but spent 20 years of his life growing up in Chennai. Therefor his command over Telugu language was not as much as he would have liked. 

“I keep telling her to keep talking to me in Telugu so I can improve,” Chaitanya said.

Talking about how Sobhita's Instagram posts attracted him to her, he said, "With actors, sometimes we are trying to put something out there about our films or something about a product — most of it is staged in a way,” Mr. Akkineni said. “So when something pops up that’s very organic and real about a person, I immediately gravitate to that kind of content."

Sobhita and Chaitanya first date

A few weeks after they began talking on Instagram, Chaitanya flew to Mumbai for a lunch date with Sobhita at the Pali Village Cafe.  "That was the charming part,” she said. “It was so old school in a way.”

“I’m not a fan of texting,” Chaitanya said. “I’m not a fan of communicating on social media.”

A week later they met at an event hosted by Prime Video to announce their respective shows on the platform. “I was in a red dress, he was in a blue suit,” Ms. Dhulipala said. “And the rest is history.”

In the summer that followed, the couple took their first trip together to Bandipur National Park in the Indian state of Karnataka. They were accompanied by Akkineni's friends. “He’s a doer. I’m a be-er,” Dhulipala said. “I’m the fluttering kite and he’s the anchor.”

“Our dissimilarities really kept us interested and curious about each other,” she continued.

In November, the couple took a trip to London and Dhulipala met the Akkineni family for New Year's Eve celebration He then met her family in 2023. Chaitanya proposed to Sobhita in August in Goa. "There is alignment, there’s chemistry, there’s curiosity,” Ms. Dhulipala said. “And it became obvious that our dissimilarities kept the tension alive in good ways and bad. We definitely wanted each other — that much was understood," she said. 

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