Archana Puran Singh breaks down while recalling strained marriage with Parmeet Sethi: ‘We had misunderstandings and ego clashes'

Archana Puran Singh may be the laughter queen of The Kapil Sharma Show, but beyond her trademark guffaws lies a deeply emotional and positive soul. The actress, who is often seen as a symbol of cheerfulness, recently admitted that her marriage with actor-director Parmeet Sethi has gone through its share of struggles.

‘What is a perfect couple?’

In a podcast with Art of Living, she opened up about how spiritual practices helped them overcome misunderstandings and ego clashes. Archana recalled how people often describe her and Parmeet as an ideal pair. But she disagreed with the idea of perfection being effortless. “Everyone says that Archana ji and Parmeet ji are a perfect couple. But what is a perfect couple?!” she asked. According to her, a true couple is one that has faced challenges together.

She revealed that both of them had made mistakes in understanding each other and often clashed due to ego, until they found guidance from spiritual leader Shri Shri Ravi Shankar.

Healing childhood wounds

The actress credited Art of Living for transforming her life. She remembered being encouraged by a friend’s wife to try the program. During one of her first Sudarshan Kriya sessions, Archana had an emotional outburst where she found herself repeatedly saying, “Mummy, don’t leave me.”

Later, her mother revealed that when she was just 10 months old, she had been left alone for 10 days while her mother was away in Kolkata.

Archana admitted she never understood why the memory surfaced after so many years, but believed it had stayed in her subconscious all along.

Convincing Parmeet to join

At that point, her relationship with Parmeet was strained, and Archana wanted him to experience the same healing. She shared, “I called Parmeet and said, ‘You must do the course.’

He asked me what I was talking about, because at that time, our relationship as husband and wife had become a little strained. I told him that this was your best friend and this was the best gift you could give yourself.”Parmeet eventually agreed. Archana recalled how he immediately flew to Bengaluru and did the Sudarshan Kriya the very next day. “Afterwards, he told me that he saw me as the most beautiful woman, even at a time when we were fighting,” she said, adding that the practice gave them strength to see each other in a new light.

‘Meditation doesn’t give you anything new’

The couple began meditating, practicing pranayama and Sudarshan Kriya together every day. Archana, holding back tears, admitted that this was the turning point in their marriage. “Slowly, things started to change. Meditation doesn’t give you anything new; it changes your perspective. The same things that used to irritate you about another person still happen, but you no longer feel that irritation. Our real nature started to come out, and we began to appreciate each other.

We decided to start anew, and that is why people call us the perfect couple.”Archana and Parmeet dated for years before tying the knot, with Archana being five years older than Parmeet. They are now proud parents to sons Aryaaman and Ayushmaan. Recently, their elder son Aryaaman proposed to longtime girlfriend and actress Yogita Bihani, with Archana and Parmeet’s full support.