Parmeet Sethi, who is known for his role in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, recently spoke about his tough childhood and moments that shaped him into the person he is in a candid conversation with his son Aaryamann Sethi on his YouTube channel. During the interaction, Parmeet opened up about growing up as a Sikh and the traumatic events that led him to cut his hair and give up his turban after losing his closest cousin and uncle during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. he also spoke about marriage with Archana Puran Singh and his career in films.
Parmeet revealed that his father was a refugee who had come to Delhi from Pakistan after the Partition. He shared that his father was originally from Gujranwala in Pakistan, and the family had to flee overnight to India during the Partition. Parmeet was born in Delhi and grew up with his parents in Defence Colony.
Speaking about the 1984 riots, he said, “My cousin Tarun and his father died in 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. He was my closest cousin. Before that I was a Sikh but after Tarun’s death, at a very young age, I decided to cut my hair. ‘It’s not worth it’ because people were dying in my own family. We experienced terror at that time. It was difficult for my father to accept that I had cut my hair.”
Parmeet went on to share that he later moved to Mumbai with his parents, where he started selling shirts to make ends meet during his college days. He said, “I used to sell shirts. I used to pick those shirts from my uncle’s factory in Delhi and used to bring them to Mumbai to sell, and I started this during college days because we saw a lot of financial constraints as a family.” He added, “All my childhood I felt money constraints. I used to see my father face financial troubles and I couldn’t ask money for him. I kept craving but I kept controlling myself.”
He also recalled a terrifying incident during the riots when his family was nearly attacked by a mob. “During the riots, a mob came to my father’s area to attack the family, but his neighbour was from the Army and he took his gun and went on the roof. My dad’s job was to fill his gun and give him to shoot. That’s how they save themselves from the attack.”
Parmeet reflected on his modest upbringing in Delhi, where he lived in a small house with all his relatives. He remembered visiting them after moving to Mumbai and playing gilli danda with his cousins. However, the surroundings of their home were far from ideal. “Sometimes the gilli would drop in the drain full of shit and we would pick it up clean it with water and start playing again. I cringe now but nobody cared at that time,” he said.
During the conversation, Parmeet also opened up about his marriage with actor Archana Puran Singh and the challenges they faced as a couple. He revealed how meditation helped him cope during tough time with both of them having a ‘lot of kich-kich (fights)’. “I did Art of Living Course, Archana forced me to do it. We were going through a bad time as a husband and wife very tense, and we were fighting a lot. After the course all the things bottled inside me came out, and for the first time, I cried loudly for my sister who had died earlier, I cried to my heart’s content. I used to diet a lot during that time, but during the meditation, I imagined myself eating rich food,” he said.
