Key facts
- Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal celebrated their first wedding anniversary
- Marked occasion with artwork combining Gayatri mantra and Kalma
- Couple married in June 2024 in an interfaith ceremony
- Public gesture comes amid national sensitivity over interfaith marriages
Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal marked the first anniversary of their interfaith marriage with an artwork that brought together the Gayatri mantra from Hindu tradition and the Kalma from Islam — a quietly bold gesture from one of Bollywood's most talked-about couples since their wedding in June 2024.
The couple chose to commemorate the milestone publicly, sharing the artwork as a statement of their shared life across religious boundaries. The pairing of these two texts — each considered deeply sacred within their respective faiths — is a deliberate and symbolic choice, one that speaks to the couple's apparent desire to honour both traditions rather than privilege one over the other.
Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha, faced considerable public scrutiny when news of her relationship with Zaheer Iqbal first emerged, and their wedding a year ago generated significant media and social media attention. Their anniversary gesture is likely to reignite some of that discourse, particularly given the ongoing national conversation around interfaith relationships and the so-called 'love jihad' narrative promoted in certain political quarters.
For many observers, however, the couple's choice to celebrate openly and with such pointed symbolism is itself a form of quiet defiance — an assertion that their personal lives and the values they share need no apology or explanation.