He spoke during a conversation with Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel. Known for his deep understanding of the Hindi film industry, Jyothi Venkatesh recalled how he once uncovered an alleged secret marriage involving filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and actress Urmila Matondkar.
Recalling the incident, Jyothi Venkatesh revealed that he had been aware of Ram Gopal Varma and Urmila Matondkar’s alleged relationship while writing about the industry. However, he did not know about a reported marriage between the two.
According to Jyothi Venkatesh, the revelation came while he was shooting in Ooty. He recalled meeting Chiranjeevi, the actor of the Telugu film industry, who questioned him about the matter. Chiranjeevi reportedly asked Jyothi why he wrote about everything happening in the film industry but had not written about Ram Gopal Varma and Urmila Matondkar’s marriage.
Jyothi said he told Chiranjeevi that while he knew about their relationship, he was unaware that they had allegedly married. Chiranjeevi then reportedly told him that Ram Gopal Varma had taken Urmila Matondkar to a temple in Andhra Pradesh, where the two allegedly got married. He also claimed that the priest who conducted the ceremony could be contacted and even shared the priest’s phone number with Jyothi.
Wanting to verify the information before publishing it, Jyothi said he contacted the priest and received enough confirmation to convince him that the story was worth pursuing. He subsequently approached Urmila Matondkar for her response.
According to Jyothi’s account, Urmila became emotional and started crying when he asked her about the alleged marriage, questioning how he could write about it. He also contacted Ram Gopal Varma, who, according to Jyothi, responded with “no comment” and told the journalist that he did not want to speak to him anymore.
Jyothi ultimately published the accounts surrounding both sides of the story. He recalled that the article created considerable upheaval within the Bollywood industry at the time, turning the alleged secret marriage into a major talking point.
For Jyothi Venkatesh, the episode remains one of the many unforgettable moments from his extraordinary 54-year journey through Indian cinema journalism.
