This week, my Instagram feed staged an unscheduled revival of a Bollywood relic: Govinda. No, nobody’s rewatching Coolie No. 1. The current saga involves Govinda the husband, starring opposite Sunita Ahuja in a divorce-but-not-really storyline that has more twists than the man’s dance moves from the ’90s. And it’s easily funnier than his ancient movies.
“Beti ki umar ki ladki lekar ghoom raha hai, shame on him (He’s walking around with a woman his daughter’s age),” Sunita told the paparazzi in a viral video. She then upgraded the insult to “sugar daddy”.
Her outburst came right after fresh airport photos of Govinda and Komal Rani Swarnkar, his co-star in his latest film, Roopa, went viral on social media. The two were also seen posing together and greeting paparazzi as they returned from a promotional trip.
“Usse sharam ana chahiye mujhe nahi (he should be ashamed, not me),” Sunita snapped.
Who could resist the might of such words? Creators on Instagram rushed to recreate the viral moment. Karan Sareen was first on the scene.
Donning a deep maroon t-shirt, a bold red lip, and a surprisingly good blow-dry wig, he recited Sunita’s lines word-for-word.
“She’s an icon, a legend and she is the Moment,” said the caption.
The comments were full of laughter emojis and support for Sunita. “Broooooo You are More Sunita ji than Actual Sunita ji,” said one.
In the Viral Spiral of the Govinda-Sunita saga, the pair have been dubbed ‘India’s Kim-Kanye’. Their dirty laundry is being aired out via reels and pap videos, and Instagram is ready with not just popcorn, but analyses and thinkpieces. Here, the tone of an argument often matters more than the words do.
After Sunita reportedly filed a divorce petition at the Bandra Family Court last year, citing adultery and cruelty on Govinda’s behalf, the tea simmered quietly for months. Now, the pot is boiling over.
Content creator Kavita has also jumped on the wagon, recreating Sunita’s viral remarks with her own flair. She opted for gigantic glasses, a big bindi, and an accent out-doing the original.
“That one ‘Hero No. 1’ wife on my feed,” read the text on the reel, while everyone in the comments gushed about the vocal similarity.
“Bhai voice ? Mujhe laga audio use kiya (The voice? I thought it was the original audio),” the top comment read.
As they often do with celebrity divorces, people are digging up older clips of Sunita.
“Govinda killed her innocence,” reads the text on a reel posted Monday, showing an early video of Sunita sharing how she met Govinda. The video got over 1 lakh likes. Clearly, Sunita has more than a few supporters.
There is something to be said about ‘innocence’ here, though. A lot of the hate Sunita gets is because she refuses to be delicate, meek, submissive. Videos blaming Govinda for her loss of a supposed ‘innocence’ seek to impose a traditional femininity on Sunita. See, she was a nice, good, beaming girl once, goes the argument. She deserves our sympathy!
Also read: Sunita Ahuja is the Bollywood wife we don’t know how to process. She’s messy, flawed, unsettling
Divorce, but not really
How is Hero No 1 dealing with the storm of virality? Govinda has kept it simple, releasing a video where he asked Sunita to stop “using a lot of abuses“, on the grounds that young fans might start imitating her. Sounds like a certain someone who was upset to hear women cursing very recently, does he not?
Social media sleuths are now breaking down his approach. Creator Janani posted a deep dive into the matter Tuesday.
“The way he (Govinda) has been dealing with it is exactly how Indian men avoid accountability,” she noted, pointing out why Sunita’s abrasiveness has become the centre of the storm.
“The focus shifts on tone policing her rather than apologising, or even taking accountability, for his actions,” she said.
Janani highlighted the fact that angry women make society deeply uncomfortable.
“People hate women who aren’t perfect victims and don’t accept shit silently,” read the top comment.
In the middle of the social media storm, Sunita quietly withdrew the divorce case—with no explanation why. That’s when Rakhi Sawant entered the chat, because no Indian celebrity scandal reaches its full, absurd potential without her. Sawant called Sunita live, put her on speaker in front of the paparazzi, and delivered what might be the most quotable line of this entire saga.
“Aap 200 crore pe dhyaan do (You just focus on the 200 crore).”
It’s shameless. It’s also sound advice for anyone going through a divorce. Put it on a t-shirt, I say.
It’s on this call with Sawant that Sunita explained why she withdrew the legal case.
“Maine woh case wapis le liya kyunki shaadi karne ke plan mei the woh log (I took the case back because they were planning to get married),” she added.
Translation: Sunita didn’t forgive him; she just refused to make his next chapter easy. If pettiness were an Olympic sport, this would be gold-medal form.
While Sunita is being attacked for being ‘too much’, Govinda hasn’t managed to escape unscathed, either. An old interview about his kundli supposedly predicting a second marriage has resurfaced, his airport appearances with Swarnkar are being questioned, and that “watch your language” clip is being recognised as an age-old manipulation tactic.
Where the saga goes next is anyone’s guess. With this couple, “final” has never really meant the word. The only thing guaranteed is that the drama will be broadcast on Instagram Reels, Stories, and Live. Sunita Ahuja will make sure of it.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)