World, meet our beautiful baby girl, Radha: Shriya Saran & Andrei Koscheev

For someone who has spent nearly two decades in showbiz, with the spotlight on her almost always, Shriya Saran is a strange paradox. She loves the limelight, sure. But she’s also a very private person who’s fiercely protective about her personal life. It’s no wonder then that she managed to keep the news of the birth of her baby girl, Radha, a secret for a good 10 months. Despite seemingly living out her life on social media through the lockdown,

Shriya

had given no indication whatsoever of being pregnant or having delivered a child. How did she manage that, we asked. And she spilled the beans.

Excerpts from an exclusive chat with Shriya and her husband,

Andrei Koscheev

, on everything from the joys of parenthood to why they wanted to go through the process of pregnancy away from the limelight.

Congratulations Shriya and Andrei, how does it feel to be parents?
Shriya: It feels great! But it’s also quite surreal really, you know. When I went to Barcelona before lockdown, the plan was to visit for just two weeks. I had packed clothes for just two weeks…. And then the lockdown happened and I was there all this while. And here I am, back home after nearly two years later, with a beautiful baby. The journey has been incredible. Having a child is such an amazing feeling and we’re immensely grateful to be blessed with such a beautiful baby girl. She changed our lives completely and she’s teaching us to be better everyday.

Andrei: Becoming parents is a beautiful experience. The whole journey has been wonderful for us, more so because for many months, Shriya and I raised the child alone. We learnt new things everyday. The whole experience changed us forever.

What made you choose the name Radha?
Andrei: Shriya was talking to her mom on the phone before the baby was born. We had just found out that we were going to be having a baby girl. And then her mom just started calling her Radha Rani and I was like, ‘why?’ I asked because in Russian, ‘Radha’ means happiness. Both Russian and Hindi come from Sanskrit and ‘Radha’ in both our languages means happiness. And right there we knew that was the name for our child. We weren’t considering any other option. We just decided in five minutes that she was Radha.

Shriya: In Barcelona, you have to register the name before a child is born. It’s a very emotional moment. You’re in labour, going through so much pain and you have to think of a name. At that point, when both of us looked at each other, we just knew that she was going to be called Radha. It was a beautiful moment.

Tell us about your pregnancy. How challenging was it to go through it during the lockdown in a foreign country?
Shriya: Pregnancy is such an intense process and it has so many ups and downs. You have good moments and there are times when you feel very emotionally drained out and tired. I did a lot of yoga. I was dancing everyday; I did a lot of Kathak. I also went on long walks and kept pushing myself to be healthy and safe.

Andrei: We had a rule. She could have either ice cream or hot chocolate. Shriya always wanted to have both! (laughs)

Shriya, for someone who’s so outgoing, expressive and social media-friendly, it must have taken some effort to keep your pregnancy a secret. Was it a conscious choice to keep your pregnancy away from the limelight?
Shriya: Yes, I just wanted to be healthy and enjoy the process. I wanted to concentrate on this beautiful journey and experience every moment of it the way it is meant to be. I didn’t want any scrutiny or anyone telling me how I should look or behave. The whole time when I was pregnant and during delivery, it was my time with the child and I wanted to keep it to myself. I wanted to be able to go for a walk without having to worry about people constantly looking at me. It was important for me to keep it to myself and not share the news till I was ready. Now that I’m back and ready to get back to work, I feel like I’m ready to share this wonderful news with the rest of the world.

Andrei: Besides, it’s very difficult to hide a baby in Bandra (laughs).

Yes! And that makes us wonder, how did you manage to keep the child away from Bombay paparazzi for all these weeks?
Shriya: (Laughs) It was extremely difficult. We had it all planned out. Everything was a process. We arrived at night and I went out first and then Andrei came. She’s just a child and we wanted to keep her away from the limelight.

Did having a baby influence your decision to move back to India from Spain?

Andrei: It happened very naturally. Once we had a child, we realised that you can’t keep travelling between three countries, especially during

COVID

times. My parents are in Russia and Shriya’s parents are here in Mumbai. We first went to Russia and spent a couple months there and then moved to India.

Shriya: I think the game changer was when we were in Russia. We were very careful when we were in Barcelona. I couldn’t be vaccinated when I was pregnant and when I was nursing the baby. And when we went to Russia, we both got COVID. We found out literally four to five hours before we were flying out of Russia. I was in denial and I thought it was a mistake. But then symptoms started showing and then Andrei got it too and we had to go to the hospital. The hardest part was we couldn’t see Radha for 15 days. If it wasn’t for Andrei’s mum, it would have been hard for us to give her the best care possible since we were so unwell ourselves. That’s when we decided to shift to India.

Andrei, how are you liking life in India?

I love it here. I feel very comfortable and positive about being here. I love Indian food. I now have Indian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It started during Shriya’s pregnancy, she could only eat Indian food at the time and I started eating a lot more Indian food then. So now I’m used to it. I love all kinds of food. I had some dosas here in Hyderabad and they were amazing. I hope to come back here and explore more of this city, experience its culture and relish the food.

They say having a child changes your life forever, how has it been for the two of you?
Shriya: Yes, a child most certainly changes your life. She drives me to work harder, to do better work. She drives me to spend more time with her and be with her whenever she needs us. Even when I'm working, I constantly think of Radha. She is now a part of me. And it’s wonderful.

Andrei: We want her to be proud of us. That gives us extra motivation to be the best version of ourselves and set the right example for our child. Because children, knowingly or unknowingly, end up copying everything you do. So we try to be the best parents that we can be.