Many congratulations, but we are not very sure of the occasion! Did you get engaged or married to Dubai-based hotelier Peter Haag?

Thank you so much! We have only got engaged. And the reason we kept it hush-hush is because I was a bit superstitious about my engagement. You know, seven years ago my engagement got cancelled. So this time we didn’t want to make it a big thing. We got engaged on Ashtami on the terrace of my penthouse here in Mumbai. Only my parents were there and a priest. My grandparents are very conservative... so that was another reason we didn’t want to go big with this.

What about some reports that you secretly got married six weeks back?

Six weeks back I was in Cairo. I was on the jury of the Cairo International Film Festival. Also, I stayed back there for an ad shoot. So I couldn’t have got married then. I don’t know why such a nasty piece was written about me, that I am only interested in white men and I want to settle abroad because my film career is over. It’s absolute bollocks! I have five films up for release, I have so many endorsements and to say something like this is really derogatory towards a woman.

My relationship with Peter is a beautiful thing and it is purely out of love. Come on, I am not one of those actresses who catches a rich industrialist late in life and gets married because she can’t work anymore. I have a lot to achieve.

How long have you known Peter? How did the two of you meet?

We have been seeing each other for a year now, that’s nine months before we got engaged. Before that we knew each other as family friends. Peter is my mama’s best friend. My mama is really young, he’s just 40. So every time I used to go for work in Dubai, I would always hear about him. But I never thought that he will be The One. Even a year ago, we saw each other in a very different way (laughs).

So when are you getting married?

We haven’t yet decided on a date. I hope it isn’t slotted for 2012. The earth may just spin out of its axis and my marriage will not happen (laughs out loud).

You want to get married this year?

Hope so. Aami toh chai taratari hok!

Celina with fiance Peter Haag

Are you ready to settle down?

I don’t know, really! A lot of people have this idea that settling down for actresses means leaving everything and going away. Both Peter and I are very modern in our outlook. I will continue to work in films and work out of India.

The first thing we want to do after marriage is adopt a child from India. Of course, our children will happen. But I am just 29 now and there’s a lot of time left for that. Right now we want to adopt a child. And that’s one of the things I like best about Peter... he supports all my social work.

The fact that I will be married will be a very private thing. It will not affect my career in any way. In fact, with a loving partner like Peter, I am sure I will be doing better work.

Has he seen your work? Which Celina Jaitly movie does Peter like?

Will you believe it, he hasn’t seen a single film of mine?! (Laughs out loud.) When we met, he had no idea who I was for a long time till somebody walked up to me in Dubai and asked for my autograph.

If you continue to stay in Mumbai and Peter in Dubai, won’t the marriage be under stress?

I don’t think so. Dubai is just a two-hour flight and anyway, every weekend he is here in India. And when I am not shooting, I go to Dubai. In fact, it takes me less time to go to Dubai than to go to Calcutta!

Will you have a reception in Calcutta?

Of course, we will hold something together in Calcutta after we get married. In fact, Peter loves Calcutta. When the two of us had gone there last year, he loved Calcutta more than any other Indian cities. He likes the colonial feel of the city, he loves the culture of the city, he loves the clubs of the city. Unlike the image we have of foreigners, Peter is very different in his outlook. He grew up in Iran and has been working in Dubai for the last nine years. So he understands the Asian and West Asian culture very well.