We’ve all been there: you see someone on a screen or out in the wild, and you instantly think, “Yep, that’s my person.” Usually, those intense crushes fade away or just turn into a harmless social media follow. But every now and then, destiny decides to take a page out of a literal movie script.

Case in point: Indian actor Shahana Goswami recently opened up on Siddharth Kannan’s podcast about how she actually ended up dating her long-time crush, Indian supermodel and actor Milind Soman.

It is a wild ride, it’s a little weird, but hey—somehow, it worked.

The Teenage Obsession

According to Shahana, it all started when she was about 16 or 17 years old living in Delhi. She went to see Milind’s film Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula with her school friends and was instantly mesmerized.

What did she do next? She went deep into the early-2000s internet trying to find his physical address to send him fan mail. Instead, she accidentally stumbled across his landline number. When she called it, Milind’s answering machine was set up to read out his cell phone number.

Armed with a brand new cellphone her dad had just gifted her, she took a leap of faith and shot him a birthday text. To her absolute shock, he replied immediately.

The 6-Year Text-Only Era

Now, this is where the story gets pretty unique. They didn’t jump into a whirlwind romance. In fact, Shahana admits she was basically a “stalker fan,” but clarifies she never sent him crazy “I love you” messages—she just genuinely wanted to connect with him as a person.

For the next six years, they only communicated via text message. They never even spoke on the phone. They randomly bumped into each other in Mumbai a few times over the years, but it wasn’t until six years later, when they both finally found themselves single, that Shahana reached out again. That’s when the actual dating began.

They went on to have a long-term relationship, navigating a 21-year age gap (she was 22, he was 43 when they started dating) with a lot of maturity, open communication, and love before ultimately parting ways in 2013 due to different life goals.

A Quick Public Service Announcement ?

Before you read this and decide to turn into an internet sleuth to track down your crush’s personal phone number: please don’t. Shahana calls herself a “stalker fan” in hindsight, but let’s be real—real-life stalking, tracking down private phone numbers, and spamming people is not only a major red flag, it’s also illegal and genuinely scary for the person on the receiving end.

The only reason this worked out for Shahana is because it was a different era of the internet, she kept her boundaries respectful, and destiny happened to align a massive coincidence where he willingly left his number on a machine.

The Real Lesson: Shooting Your Shot Works

If we strip away the “internet detective” part of the story, there’s a beautiful takeaway here for anyone navigating the casual dating scene: manifest your crush and shoot your shot.

Shahana didn’t sit around waiting for luck to happen; she saw someone she liked and sent a simple, respectful message. She didn’t force things, she let the connection brew naturally over years, and when the timing was finally right, it clicked.

When you’re out here on casual dating apps looking for your next spark, don’t be afraid to be the one who opens the conversation. Send that text. Slide into the DMs (respectfully!). Put yourself out there. It might feel a little bold, and the timeline might not be standard, but hey—if a teenager texting a supermodel can turn into a real, lasting love story, anything is possible.

Just keep your “stalking” limited to harmlessly looking at their public dating profile, okay?

Ready to shoot your shot and find your own movie-script connection? Sign up for OBC today and start texting your crush!