How a Facebook message led actor Suhasini Mulay to find love at 60

Speaking on the show Suhana Safar, Mulay said she chose not to settle down earlier because she had not found a partner who truly shared her values and understanding of equality.

"I married for the first time at the age of 60. Until then, I hadn't found the right match. My husband is a very well-known scientist. When he talks about science, I don't understand a thing, but he is a wonderful human being," she said.

A Facebook profile sparked the conversation

Mulay revealed that her journey to finding a life partner began unexpectedly on Facebook.

She said she joined the social media platform after a co-star encouraged her to do so in the hope of exploring work opportunities.

While browsing the platform, she came across the profile of scientist Atul Gurtu, who was involved with the Large Hadron Collider project.

Curious about his work and her long-standing interest in science, she decided to send him a message.

"I saw Atul's profile and thought, 'Physicists are on Facebook too?' He was working on the Large Hadron Collider. Since I have always been interested in science, I sent him a message asking, 'What is LHC?'" she recalled during a conversation on actor Sulekha Talwalkar's YouTube channel.

Friendship turned into something more

The initial exchange soon developed into regular email conversations.

According to Mulay, Gurtu never explicitly proposed marriage but hinted that he was looking for a life partner.

She admitted she was initially sceptical. "When I realised he was looking for someone, I laughed to myself. I thought, 'When I couldn't find the right person in 60 years, how am I suddenly going to find him now?'" she said.

Friend encouraged her to give it a chance

Mulay said a close friend played a key role in convincing her to keep an open mind.

When Gurtu asked for her phone number, she hesitated, citing concerns about online identities and fake profiles.

"My friend told me that at this age, the options only become fewer. Don't shut the door before you've even opened it. If you don't like him, you can always move on. There's no harm in trying," she recalled.

She jokingly responded to Gurtu's request by saying, "Good girls don't give their phone numbers to strangers."

Verification before trust

Aware of the risks associated with online interactions, Mulay said she thoroughly verified Gurtu's credentials before taking the relationship forward.

She matched the details on his Facebook profile with information available through the organisation where he worked and found everything to be accurate.

The actor said she had lived independently for most of her life, and her friends encouraged her not to dismiss the possibility of companionship simply because she had remained single for decades.

A delayed first meeting led to marriage

Although the two had planned to meet earlier, circumstances delayed their first in-person interaction until Diwali.

Mulay admitted she even arrived late on purpose for that first meeting.

What began as a casual question about particle physics eventually blossomed into a relationship, culminating in a marriage that she says came at exactly the right time in her life.