A Definitive Timeline of Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor's Relationship

It all began at the mere age of eleven—Alia Bhatt fell in love for the very first time, not knowing that nearly two decades later, her first would also be her last. How her childhood crush turned into a real-life romance, you ask? Well, the initial infatuation sparked on the sets of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black (2005), where Ranbir was working as an assistant director before plunging into the industry with the filmmaker's Saawariya (2007) two years later. 

Fast forward to 2014, Alia Bhatt, for the first time on national television, confessed her love for Ranbir Kapoor during her Koffee With Karan debut, alongside her co-stars Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan. A few months later, Ranbir is said to have reportedly promoted her film Highway (2014) as well. Although, at the time, the two were in their respective rumoured relationships with Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif.

In 2017, post their breakups, rumours about them dating was rife as they shot for their first project, Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva, together. Their filmmaker and best friend, Ayan Mukerji, apparently played cupid, stirring love between the two co-stars. It was a year later, in 2018 when the dynamic duo made their first public appearance as a couple at Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja's wedding reception, giving the speculation momentum. 

Soon after, Ranbir reportedly confirmed the relationship to a magazine—back then, he'd said that their relationship was "new" and that he didn't want to speak much about it. This milestone was followed by multiple sightings at each other's family gatherings, award functions, industry parties etc. In 2018, when Rishi Kapoor was diagnosed with Leukemia, the couple was spotted visiting the veteran actor at a medical facility in New York City. Alia Bhatt rang in the New Year with her beau as well, with photographs from the family gathering taking the internet by storm. 

The same year, in 2019, the power couple proclaimed their love for one another during the Filmfare Awards in Mumbai. In December 2020, Alia Bhatt accompanied Ranbir and his mother, Neetu Kapoor, to Armaan Jain's wedding with Anissa Malhotra. On Ranbir Kapoor's birthday that year, Alia took to Instagram to wish her bae; she penned in her caption, "Happy birthday 8 ❤️" Fast forward to 12th March 2021, the star put up another Instagram appreciation post for her partner, while holding his hand and wrote, "Major Missing." In July, Alia Bhatt posted a mirror selfie while flaunting her '❤️ 8' phone cover, and a few days after she posted a picture wearing Ranbir's cap and wrote, "When you miss him so you steal his belongings." 

It wasn't until Ranbir Kapoor's 2021 birthday, that Alia posted a photograph of the two together for the very first time. "Happy birthday my life," the actor wrote, as she shared a snippet of the two from a trip to Jodhpur—where they were said to be scouting for a wedding location at the time. The first 'Instagram-official' couple post came much later, in November, of the two celebrating Diwali together. 

In December 2021, during the motion poster launch of Brahmāstra Part One: Shiva, the pair dodged media questions surrounding their impending wedding—which had been postponed indefinitely to the ongoing pandemic. To bring the year to a glorious end, the power couple stepped into 2022 together, vacationing in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, Africa. In an Instagram post from the holiday, she admitted, "Casually flexing my boyfriend’s photography skills," with Ranbir Kapoor spotted in one of the pictures from the trip. 

Most recently, the 29-year-old star revealed that "I am already married to him in my head. And, I think I've been married to him in my head for a long time," during an interview with NDTV. A while earlier, during a virtual interview with Indian film critic Rajeev Masand, Ranbir Kapoor had confessed, "I think it would’ve already been sealed had the pandemic not hit our lives. But I don’t want to jinx it by saying anything...I want to tickmark that goal very soon in my life."

A month ago, the news about the truly, madly, deeply, in love couple's upcoming wedding broke the internet—with details about their wedding venue, date, guest list, and ensembles coming to the fore. Click *here* to learn everything we know so far.