There’s always a favorite couple that we look up to. It might be our parents; our dai-bhauju, mama-maiju, some couple from our family circle or sometimes from our neighborhood. Other times, it might be a celebrity couple we’ve never seen or met. No matter who they are, you want them to succeed in life and you want them to succeed in love.
One such beloved Nepali celebrity couple is of Jyotsna Yogi and Swoopna Suman. The actor-singer couple got married last year on May 4 after dating for four years. Honestly, it was quite a surpirse for me as well when the photos of their wedding started making rounds on social media. I thought they must be stills from the sets of some music video they were doing. Even though I have been closely observing both of their works — almost since the time they started out, I wasn’t aware of their relationship. Having interviewed them individually in past; it was great to interview them as a couple now and this is definitely one of my favorite couple interviews.
Excerpts.
Hi guys. Thank you for taking out time for this. How have you been?
Both: Hello. We’re good, thank you. Long time.
Swoopna, congratulations on the massive success of “Je Chhau timi”. How does it feel to have such a huge release that is loved by millions of people?
Swoopna: It surely feels overwhelming! The love and admiration we have received for this song is a surreal experience. This was a song that came from the heart, and I feel grateful that people have accepted it from theirs too.
How was it collaborating with Samir Shrestha for the first time? You guys should do another collab some time soon; any plans on that yet?
Swoopna: It was a wonderful opportunity collaborating with Samir. He is a very genuine person and I feel very happy with the way he has been moving forward with his music. We do have another project collaboration planned and we hope we can come up with something good real soon.
Jyotsna, you must be the first one to hear that song. What was your first reaction like?
Jyotsna: Yeah. When he sang the first few lines, I got emotional. He’s always been telling me that I look beautiful the way I am and when he put those words in a song and sang it to me out of the blue, I was all emotional. I loved it before the song was even complete.
Swoopna, is she an honest critic of your works?
Swoopna: She is the most honest critic ever to me. She is so honest that it hurts sometimes. All the songs I create are like babies to me, so I am naturally obliged to believe that all of them are good. In such times, Jojo’s honest opinion has helped me filter out many mediocre songs I have written and helped me improve my songwriting as well. I am happy she is so brutally honest with me.
Jyotsna, you played a singer in Dhoje’s recently released music video. How about giving singing a shot for real as well? You already have a mentor to guide you, right?
Jyotsna: I love singing but I don’t sing good. I used to dream of creating an album when in my teens *laughs*. Swoopna does tell me to give it a try in singing as well. He says it’s all about Riyaz (practice), and with patience and consistency, I can sing good too. I sing all the wrong notes and Swoopna tries to mentor me by breaking every syllable down. Let’s see, I might surprise you someday.
The first interview I did with you was almost seven years back when you were about to make a debut with Ma Ta Timrai Hoon. How has your acting journey been since then?
Jyotsna: My acting journey has been thrilling and entertaining, Neeraj. I love acting. I was a beginner all those years ago and I still feel like one today. Working on a bigger project like a movie helped me gain so much confidence when facing a camera. Working in a movie takes a lot of time and patience. So, when working for any other projects, I found them easier to do. Have done two movies so far and lots and lots of music videos.
It’s been a while since we have seen you on silver screen. Any upcoming projects that you might be working on?
Jyotsna: My second movie was released in all OTT platforms instead of silver screens so, that was a missed opportunity. Almost all my scenes were snipped out and I never got paid. I have had many contracts signed too, that too with big banners but there would always be a last-minute change where I’d be either replaced by someone closer to them or offered embarrassing remuneration. Honestly, right now, I don’t have any upcoming movie projects. I would love to star in a movie soon where I meet 3 things i.e. good team, good script and good remuneration.
Swoopna, as you are to make your film debut soon; have you been taking any tips from her?
Swoopna: Yes, I am doing a movie with director Dinesh Raut. Jojo loves acting, and since I broke this news to her, she has been very much supportive and as excited as me. She does give me random tips and tricks about acting now and then. I love learning from her. She is my favourite.
Can you tell us anything about the film for now?
Swoopna: The script is still a Work in Progress, and I have yet to receive my final draft of it. It’s a Social Drama slash Love Story. When the director narrated me the core story of the movie, I found it very interesting, connecting and different. So, I decided to be a part of it. The team I am working with is very amazing and I am really looking forward to this project.
2017 was the year when I first took your interview and that was quite a special year for you as you made your playback singing debut with an “Intu Mintu Londonma” song and had your first international concert in Australia later that year. How has life been since then?
Swoopna: Life has really been a dream come true for me. It was a special year indeed. Coming from 2017 to 2023, all that I feel is grateful. I feel blessed to still be able to do the thing I love and make a living out of it, moreover I get to spend everyday with the one I love. Still have a long way to go but I am taking my time and enjoying this journey.
You guys kept your relationship quite low-key and had people surprised when the photos of your wedding came out. Was it so that “kasaiko najar na lagos hamro maya ma” or something like that?
Both: Nazar nalagos can be one of the reasons. But, honestly, we just wanted to take ourselves to a point where we were sure of being in each other’s lives forever. We didn’t want any extra attention on us while we were focusing on us. We were taking things slow, we were getting to know each other better. But, then again, we thought everybody knew ‘cause we weren’t deliberately hiding it. We just never posted on socials or talked about it in interviews. We were always found together, everywhere.
You will be celebrating your first wedding anniversary within few days. So how has the first year of marriage been like?
Jyotsna: The first year of marriage felt like a blink. Now I can relate to my parents when they say, decades have gone by in a blink. It honestly feels like today is my second day of being wedded. It has been overwhelming, wonderful, fun, thrilling.
Swoopna: I still feel like I met JoJo yesterday. The days I have spent together with her this past year have been the best days of my life already and I can’t wait for more. sometimes I even ask her why she didn’t meet me earlier. *laughs*
What’s the best thing about being married?
Jyotsna: For me it’s like moving in with your best friend. He is there in every part of my life. Even the tiniest things. We go everywhere together, we tag along in each other’s work for example, I go to all his concerts, he assists me in all my shoots, we go food hunting together, we video game together, we get lazy together. I found someone to accompany me in everything I do. It’s fun.
If I am not wrong, you two were already a thing by the time you worked together on LoveCloseup web series. How was it like back then playing love birds on screen as well? How was the experience like?
Jyotsna: Yes, it had been about eight months into dating when we did the web series. We were offered to do it ‘cause the team knew we were together. I was over the moon to be playing his lover *laughs*. I was so comfortable. It was work obviously but I’d get butterflies in all our scenes together. I giggled like a teen every minute. I felt like I own the world, I swear. Those memories still bring a smile. I hope to work with him again.
Swoopna: Back then, we were just getting to know each other and falling in love. Getting to work as an onscreen couple during that same time helped us create so much dear memories together.
“Baacha Bhayo” was the most wholesome video to have come out last year. Your wedding song is now THE wedding song that is part of hundreds of other newlyweds’ marriage videos, making it a special song for them too. How does it feel to be a part of such important memories of people through your music?
Swoopna: Ever since I started writing songs, I have always made it my goal to be able to relate to people’s lives through my music. Seeing it come to fruition through songs like ‘Baacha Bhayo’ gives me the ultimate joy and satisfaction. I also feel grateful to know that a song that is so much special to me and something which was created from my heart, has made its way to so many other people’s hearts too. This song has become a part of special celebration for many people including me, and I feel proud and grateful at the same time.
Do you think if enough people sign the online petition, we actually might observe your first date day as the Cheese-Cake Day every year? {Side note: the couple had a cheese-cake on their first date}
Jyotsna: That is actually a VERY GOOD IDEA! If people would want it, it would be awesome. I celebrate our first date day till today and if everyone would celebrate it with me, you’ll be seeing my ugly happily crying face.
Jokes aside, what’s it like to wake up next to the person you love the most in the world every morning?
Jyotsna: A sense of safety, love, content, happiness, good. I don’t know, I could go on forever. I used to see this kind of cheesiness on TV but it really does exist. I love waking up next to my beloved.
Swoopna: I am a morning person and I usually wake up earlier than JoJo, and every time I look at her sleeping so peacefully I feel like I could do anything in this world just to see this every single day. It is such a beautiful, beautiful feeling I feel every morning waking next to Jojo.
What’s your average day like? What are some fun things that you two do when you are not working?
Jyotsna: When not working, most of the times, we stay home. We video game, we cook watching YouTube recipes, we clean, we be lazy together, we order in. We also go out on dates, we go visit our people, we go movies, we go arcades, we go on mini vacations. There’s so many, I cannot remember all of it right now.
Swoopna: When not working, I like to spend my time at home with Jojo, our grandmom, our sister and our dogs. She is a pro at video games and I am a pro at watching her. Everything with Jojo is fun to be honest!
Who cooks the best food?
Jyotsna: We both are good and bad at cooking. I make good chicken, he makes good Indian dishes. I make good masala tea, he makes good coffee. I am bad at baking, he is very good at baking. So, it’s sort of balanced.
Swoopna: Jojo makes the best chicken curry!
Who among you is the mischievous one and why is it Jyotsna?
Jyotsna: You know the answer already. He too is mischievous. He cannot stay still, he has to run around annoying everyone but in a fun way. He cannot stop himself from making all those dad jokes, he says it’s “involuntary”; but, I am glad he is the way he is, he makes everything fun. It is never a bore to be around him.
One thing that you love about each other the most.
Jyotsna: I love how pure his heart is. I have never seen malice, evil, negativity in him. He is too good of a soul. He is my source of positive energy. He makes me sane.
Swoopna: What I love the most about Jojo is the way she cares so much about people she loves. Lucky are the few people like me, who got to know her for who she truly is. She is a bundle of joy.
And one thing that you wish you could change about each other.
Jyotsna: He is too kind to say ‘no’ to people and that has caused him certain difficulties. He never complains. So, when he cannot say ‘NO’, I do. I want him to learn to say ‘NO’.
Swoopna: She trusts people too easily and most of the time she ends up getting hurt. I always tell her to take her time to know and open-up to people.
Swoopna, are you working on a new song? When can we expect a new one?
Swoopna: Currently, I am a little bit occupied doing shows and I do have some songs that needs finishing. I am also working on the soundtrack of the movie I am working on, so hopefully by next month I might be able to release a new one for my listeners.
Who are some of the artists who you want to collab with?
Swoopna: I would love to collaborate with Amit Trivedi. I just love his music.
Jyotsna, what’s on your work front next that you are looking forward to?
Jyotsna: I am going to be working as a director and concept creator in few projects. I am really looking forward to it because I have been dreaming of this for a really long time and it is also pushing me out of my comfort zone. I am excited.
At last, what’s your message to the people who don’t believe in love?
Jyotsna: Well, I had stopped believing in love as well but that was before I had found self-respect and self-love. I had given up hope of being in love or getting married. The reason I found Swoopna is because I started loving myself more, respecting myself more. That way, people started filtering themselves out of my life and I was only surrounded by people who were smart, trustable, good, positive minded etc. Because of my high self-respect, I would kick out anyone and everyone with the tiniest bit of red flags. This brought me to Swoopna. He loves, he respects, he understands, he’s better. This didn’t happen overnight, I took 4 and half years to decide for my entire life. So, to believe in love, try putting yourself first and see how everyone will start putting you first too.
Swoopna: They say charity begins at home, and I believe it’s the same with love. In order to be able to love someone I think you have to love yourself first. When you are happy, being with someone makes you happier.
Damn! Some serious couple goals right there!
Cover Photo (From Wedding): @envelope.weddings
