Muzammil Ibrahim opens up about dating Deepika Padukone, recalls auto-rickshaw dates during the Mumbai monsoon

Actor Muzammil Ibrahim, who dated Deepika Padukone during her initial days in Mumbai, opened up on their relationship in a recent interview, and shared how she was the one who proposed to him first. He stated that the two were in touch until the time she got married to Ranveer Singh.

“We were very good friends, and we still are. She is a very nice girl. We dated during our modelling days. We did a show for Tommy Hilfiger together. And she had seen me in Gladrags, Pardesiya, and all of that, and liked me a lot. That is how we met,” Muzammil said on Siddharth Kannan’s podcast.

He further continued, “We dated for two years. I was the first guy she met in Bombay and vice versa. It was my first actual relationship. Deepika proposed to me first. We broke up because I left her, but I don’t regret it. I never regret leaving anyone. Plus, I was a star at that time, she was not. She was a model, but I had become an actor already.”

“She is a superstar now. Everyone knows her, nobody knows me. I am a big fan. I love her work, and I feel really happy when I see her doing good in life. I have spent so much time with her, I always want to see her happy,” he added.

‘Went through hell’

Muzammil Ibrahim, who made his Bollywood debut with the 2007 film, Dhoka, revealed that Pooja Bhatt, who had directed the film, was “extremely abusive” towards him. He also claimed that he suffered from depression and had nightmares because of her behaviour.

Muzammil recalled, “Pooja Bhatt had a temperament which was very difficult and disrespectful towards actors. Mahesh Bhatt used to like me a lot. But Pooja said a lot of things about me. I don’t want to go into the details of it. I was very respectful towards her, but she had a very abusive nature. She was extremely abusive.”