A relationship is like a start-up business. On a good day, you’re breaking even. But if you’re a couple under the spotlight of a global audience, you’re in permanent recession. You only need to look at Hollywood, the divorce capital, to appreciate that celebrity marriages are not the most secure relationships around. It’s completely understandable considering the rather unique set of pressures presented on the stars. So why does Hollywood’s counterpart, Bollywood, not share its poor track record?

An industry that rarely likes to depict dysfunctional marriages almost demands the same of its stars. That is Bollywood’s secret to sustaining A-list marriages. They are expected to last because Indian culture and conservatism dictate so. What’s more, in India, divorce can only be granted based on cases of mental cruelty, infidelity or psychiatric illness. Parting ways is clearly not easy for the stars.

But whether propagating a “happy ever after” image is a good thing is highly questionable. In a world where the true value of marriage is wavering, there’s something almost conceited in keeping up appearances of being together for the sake of public image. It promotes an unrealistic impression that marriage works amidst living, breathing and working in that artificial world, which is never helpful as millions of people look upon the stars as role models. Just imagine how many young and impressionable people must have been inspired by Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachan getting married.

When the likes of Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora, or Ajay Devgan and Kajol present a united front for the glaring media, I cannot help but question just what price the couples are truly paying for their fame? How does one cope with having a more popular spouse? Does anyone ever get used to the constant pressures of having to look good, look normal and smile even when they don’t feel like it?

These stars lead extraordinary lives shrouded in intense public scrutiny, competitive careers, drug and alcohol addictions, breakdowns and temptation. When issues arrive, they probably arrive all at once. Unlike a three hour marathon of a Hindi film, these love stories have no intermission. There must come a point where no miracle can inject life back into a dead relationship. But they are bound by marital contract, family expectations and the world’s eyes.

Even more extraordinary is how Bollywood couples never give away the slightest hint of a rocky marriage, even though the mischief mongering media may speculate otherwise. It’s almost like the film stars have been born with an innate skill for PR. So when the few that actually do go ahead with a divorce, the outside world gets a rare glimpse that the likes of Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt live a reality that does not imitate art.

So why have the few divorces not set off a trend across the industry? The reality is that the latest generation of young stars are resisting marriage for as long as possible, opting for a live-in relationship that does not make either party bound together by tradition, joint family expectations or their fans. The new generation that have been in a non-contractual set up such as Kareena and Shahid, or Bipasha and John, lasted as long as they did, and then broke-free with ease once the pressures of Bollywood chewed up the relationship.

Whilst Bollywood may never rival Hollywood’s divorce rates, nor be the next divorce capital, is this really something to be proud of? Marriages in Bollywood are not so different from Hollywood. But failing marriages are yet to come out of the closet. The truth is, it will never do to say “I do” in Bollywood because having a successful relationship is incompatible with having a successful film career.