When Ratan Tata opened up about love, marriage, and relationships; 'Farewell my friend', writes ex-girlfriend Simi Grewal

'A whole series of things (stopped me from marrying) – timing, my absorption in work at the time. I came close to getting married sometimes, but it didn’t work out,' Tata had said.

The demise of Ratan Tata has left the entire nation in a state of mourning as tributes have been pouring in since the news broke out.

As people grieve the loss of the business scion, one among them is Indian actress, and TV show hostess Simi Grewal, who is also reportedly Ratan Tata's ex-girlfriend.

"It's too hard to bear your loss..too hard.. Farewell my friend..#RatanTata," she wrote in a post on X.

Simi Grewal had reportedly in an interview in 2011 confirmed that she had briefly dated the business tycoon before they parted ways.

"Ratan and I go back a long way. He’s perfection, he’s got a sense of humour, is modest, and the perfect gentleman. Money was never his driving force. He’s not as relaxed in India as he is abroad," she had said.

Meanwhile, Tata had even come to Grewal's show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal as a guest where he opened up about his personal life and relationships.

On the topic of marriage, the late industrialist shared that there were multiple reasons behind his decision of not getting married.

"A whole series of things (stopped me from marrying) – timing, my absorption in work at the time. I came close to getting married sometimes, but it didn’t work out."

RIP Ratan Tata: As tributes pour in, track all updates in our blog.

He also added that while he often felt lonely since he did not have a wife or any children and he sometimes even longed for it, he also enjoyed the fact that he did not have to worry about the concerns of anyone else.

In her caption for the interview, Simi Grewal wrote: "Ratan Tata was my first friend in Mumbai. We had both just returned from abroad into terra incognita; both at the threshold of an unchartered world that lay ahead. Decades of triumphs later, Ratan's intrinsic personality hadn't changed: a man with a commanding presence yet a disarming diffidence. Still shy, still reticent, but ever articulate and gracious."

Tata breathed his last at the city's Breach Candy Hospital at 11:30 pm hours on Wednesday.