Sunil Chhetri reveals how he secretly dated daughter of 'Calcutta don' for 13 years: 'Naak ke niche Ghumata raha'

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Sunil Chhetri, the former captain of the Indian nation football team, has revealed his exciting love story with wife Sonam Bhattacharya. The 40-year-old revealed how he went to Sonam's home after 13 years of dating to ask her father's permission to marry.

Chhetri fell in love with his childhood coach Subrata Bhattacharya's daughter Sonam while he was playing for Mohun Bagan as an 18-year-old. He dated Sonam for 13 years before collecting the courage to meet her father and put out a marriage proposal without the presence of any of his family members.

In an interview with 'The Lallantop', Sunil Chhetri described how he flew to Kolkata from Bengaluru to meet Sonam's father. He recalled that he dressed up formally and spoke in English instead of the usual Bengali when he finally confessed his love for Sonam to his Arjuna awardee father Subrata Bhattacharya.

"I called my parents and told them that I was going to ask for Sonam's hand from his father. They blessed me, and asked if I wanted them to come. I told them 'no', I want to go alone. When I went there, we were having discussions over my game, and I was searching for a moment to talk about Sonam. He looked at his son Shahed and asked him to bring a shorts for me as I went in formals. 'What is he wearing early morning?!' Shahed was looking at me and I was looking at him. He knew what I had come for," Sunil Chhetri said.

"When he took a break from speaking, I spoke to him in English. I usually talk to him in Bengali. 'Coach, I want to talk to you about Sonam'. He went silent all of a sudden. I went forward and said 'I know of her for 13 years and I really love her'. Sonam had asked me only one thing and it was not to inform her father that we knew each other for 13 years, and this was by second line. My third line was to seek his blessing, and he went straight to the bathroom as Shaheb and I looked at each other. He came out and wasn't looking me in my eyes - maybe he was shy or something.

"I felt really bad to put him in that position. He then said ' Ya it's OK. I know you since your childhood. Talk to parents and Lata (Sunil's mother-in-law) and he did not look at me. My parents then came to meet them, and now it's been more than five years that we are married, and blessed with a 10-month baby boy. The crux of the story is that for 13 years I kept dating the daughter of an Arjuna awardee, and kind-of-a don in Calcutta below his nose, and he did not come to know about it," he added.

Sunil Chhetri and Sonam currently live in Bengaluru. They have a son named Dhruv. The star footballer retired from international football but will continue playing for Bengaluru FC.