Vijay Deverakonda admits he was 'immature' about love before meeting Rashmika—and why he's finally ready.

Vijay Deverakonda has often spoken about being focused on his career, but falling in love with Rashmika Mandanna made him look at relationships differently. The couple, who have been receiving plenty of love from fans, continue to grab attention with their personal moments. In their first joint appearance on Koffee With Karan season 9, Rashmika talked about she spoke about marriage for a year with Vijay to convince him.

What Vijay Deverakonda said

Speaking to Karan Johar on why it took him so much time to agree on the marriage, Vijay opened up about the shift in his outlook on love and how he eventually knew he wanted to marry Rashmika. The actor admitted that he had not always believed in the idea of love. For years, he was so caught up in building his career that he saw anything taking his attention away from work as a distraction.

"If you look back at my interviews, there I talk about love very almost with a sense of disrespect and disbelief, like 'I don't believe in this concept', which was immature of me because I've been blessed with so much beautiful love. I'm lucky that way. And also, I was very clouded by my ambition. For many years, for me, if anything was not serving the purpose of career and money and growth, felt like you're distracting me from my purpose. I need to cut it off," he said.

But as his relationship with Rashmika grew, he began to realise how much her presence meant to him. He added, "At some point, by then I was very fond of her. Fondness turned into a sort of dependency. I was like, I need her. I need her around me because my day needs better, my meals feel better when we are sharing them. I sleep incredibly well when she's with me. So I was like, I just need you. And then I realized that I want to be married to this woman."

Vijay Deverakonda on why he took his time before deciding to marry Rashmika Mandanna

For Vijay, knowing that he loved Rashmika was only part of the journey. He wanted to be equally sure about marriage and whether their relationship could stand the test of time. Rather than letting his emotions make the decision for him, the actor said he took time to understand his feelings and see how they would fare through life's highs and lows.

"I think marriage is a really important decision. I know that I put the relationship through every obstacle there is to see it survive. I'm that kind of guy. I was testing myself. I was testing the relationship. And when she asked me, 'Let's get married,' I was like, 'It cannot be an emotional decision where I'm suddenly feeling a surge of love for you, so I want to be married to you'," the actor said.

He wanted to know whether marriage would still feel right during difficult days, career struggles and moments when either of them felt overwhelmed. He added, "For me, it was about seeing if we felt this way consistently. Through days when you're happy, like now, through days when you're upset, when you feel like you want to give your career everything, or when you feel like you can't deal with acting anymore and want to quit and stay at home. We all have these ups and downs emotionally. I was like, if through all of it, marriage still feels so important, then we should do it."

Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda's love story

Rashmika and Vijay first worked together in the 2018 Telugu hit Geetha Govindam, followed by Dear Comrade in 2019. Their chemistry on screen led to years of speculation about their relationship, but the two largely kept their personal lives away from the spotlight. They eventually got married on February 26, 2026, in Udaipur, with wedding ceremonies that honoured both their Telugu and Kodava traditions.