A spitting image of his father, 3-year-old Vihaan runs about with three sticks between his fingers imitating Wolverine, Marvel’s fiercest X-man. In a moment as he suddenly falls, his mother rushes to his aid, talks to him smoothly and the child smiles again; what a sight to see! Of all the cover shoots we have done, if we were ever asked about our favourite we would be majorly inclined to go with this one. Motherhood has changed many things for actress Sneha, all of which can be perceived by anyone who looks at the two of them. Cuteness overload is so apt here!
“Motherhood is a learning process every day.”
One could get all the help they ever needed but being a mother for the first time is no walk in the park. Sneha says, “Motherhood is everything to me. It was surreal – the whole experience from the hospital to home. I have another life in my hands now. I was clueless when I was pregnant, but I have come to realize what a big job it is. Sometimes it is tiring, sometimes it is so much fun, but overall it is so rewarding. Waking up, eating, sleeping and walking with your child every part of the way is a totally amazing experience. But it is all a learning process. I know I am responsible for one more person that is my husband, who is but a child as well. The response just kicks into action immediately and there is fear every minute. I have learned to understand the things my son loves in life and he has learned the good and bad of life. It is scary but it is oh so wonderful!”
“If I could do it all again, I would do it even better.”
The entire experience was scary at first, but pleasant later. It has opened up a whole new side of Sneha that she never knew existed. “If I could go back in time and give myself some advice, I would probably tell myself to be more relaxed and enjoy the moment. The first time there is fear, doubt and confusion as well, but I have so much more clarity now and I am enjoying, watching the growth of my child. Now I can tell a new mother what to expect and even give some advice.”
“Prasanna is the cool dad.”
Talking about their family dynamics, Sneha muses that while she is the emotionally available mother, Prasanna is the more easy-going father. We could just be sitting in the hall with Vihaan playing around and Prasanna will be relaxed while I turn my head 360° often to keep my eyes on him every second. At the slightest indication that he is not in the same room as me I wonder what Vihaan is doing. Is he playing by himself? Is there anything around that could hurt him? Are there sharp edges lying around? And so on. I am quite worried all the time, but I wish I could adopt some of the chilled out style of Prasanna’s parenting .“
“We haven’t exposed Vihaan to outside food.”
There’s no doubt the couple are major foodies when it comes to dining. Known to be quite the chefs at home, Sneha says they still call the shots on Vihaan’s diet right now. “I am good at our cultural dishes, something I take after my mom. Making sambar, vada and other South Indian delicacies is my signature style. I don’t know how Prasanna is so good at experimenting and getting excellent results so quickly. Prasanna has his own touch when it comes to cooking. He cooks Chinese, he cooks Italian and recently he even tried his hand at some Lebanese food. In fact, of late, he has been a Mexican cuisine expert and I am hooked onto his guacamole. I found it very yummy!”
“We literally build a bond together!”
So, how does Sneha spend time with Vihaan? She says they bond over their equal love for blocks/legos. “We could simply bond over everything. Right now he loves playing with his toys and his current favourites are superheroes. Since I am a fan as well, we bond over Batman, Flash, and Ironman and the rest. Other times, we build things with blocks. As a kid, I loved playing blocks as well, so we spend hours sometimes quietly building something together and those times are so precious!”
“He knows that’s me on screen and that it’s me next to him.”
Inevitably, being a celebrity child, Vihaan is used to seeing his parents on the screen. So, how does he feel? Sneha replies, “When my movies are played on TV, regardless of whether I am around or not, Vihaan gets really excited and exclaims, ‘Amma! Amma!’ at the screen. If I am around, he would touch my face and touch the screen and say, ‘Amma same! Amma same!’, indicating that what he sees on screen is indeed me. It is such a cute moment and I love it!”
“The love that fans have for me and Prasanna extends to Vihaan as well.”
Considering celebrity lives are so challenging, one can hardly imagine what their children go through especially with both parents as major stars in the industry. Sneha explains that though it does bother her a bit, she feels loved from all the support. “Even when we have Vihaan around, when we go out in general, we do have people coming up to us asking us if they can take a picture with us. When they spot Vihaan they would like him to be in the picture as well and though it does bother me just a bit, Vihaan is such a sport! I think he understands who we are and he loves taking selfies with people who come up to take pictures with us. If Vihaan is cranky or sleepy, I definitely refuse to disturb him but otherwise, both the fans and Vihaan get along pretty fine.”
