Sagarika Ghatge, known for her role as a hockey player who was dating a cricketer in Chak De! India, will soon be getting married to Indian cricket star Zaheer Khan in real life. The actress finds an irony in the whole plot, and says planning a wedding is exciting but stressful too.

“Like everybody who is getting married, I think there is always stress, yet there is a lot of excitement because it’s a wedding that you are planning. So, we have all those emotions going on right now,” Sagarika said.

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The actress, who inaugurated the flagship store of Inc. 5, a footwear brand, in Mumbai on Wednesday, got engaged to Zaheer in April. There are reports that they will get married in November, and will hold a reception on November 27.

But she preferred to remain mum on her wedding plans, and skipped the question.

Talking about her relationship and the connection with the Chak De! India role, she said: “When I think of it, there is an irony in that, but it’s definitely not planned. I don’t know how to look back at it, but we can definitely call it ironic.

“More than me, a lot of people think of it like, ‘Oh my God, she is actually marrying a cricketer because she dated a cricketer’. But that was a movie, this is my real life. So, I don’t know how I can associate both.”

Sagarika says she got associated with Inc. 5 due to Zaheer, who announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket two years back as the country’s fourth-highest wicket-taker across formats.

“I think Zaheer has known Rajesh (Kadam) for a while and he met up with me saying that they are launching a new store. I was more than happy to be a part of it and come to see the collection because the brand sticks to simplicity and is contemporary and I think that’s what I am about in terms of the way I dress.”

If we talk about her professional life, Sagarika has been very selective about her projects. She has featured in a Marathi film Premachi Goshta, Hindi film Jee Bhar Ke Jee Lee and Punjabi film Dildariyaan.

She also faced her fears through TV show Khatron Ke Khiladi – Darr Ka Blockbuster Returns.

Sagarika says it is very important that she believes in the project before she takes it up.

“I think every project that I have done has always helped me grow as an actor. So, that’s why I chose a Marathi film after a film like ‘Chak De…’ because I knew doing that Marathi film would help me grow as an actor because I got to work with somebody like Atul Kulkarni, who I respect a lot in terms of the kind of body of work that he has done.

“So, I choose my projects in whichever way it helps me bring out something new in me. So, maybe that has made me do selective films, but I hope to do a lot more films now.”

At the moment, she has a bilingual film called Haadsa in her kitty.

“It will be releasing early next year. That’s pretty much it,” she said.