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Classic film fanfinds his fair lady

After discovering each other on the Internet, a mutual interest in movies and culture sealed the deal.

By AMY SCHERZER
Published June 16, 2006

The plot would involve a couple of classic film fans almost too busy to meet before the final reel.

"Call it Kismet, a Middle Eastern word for fate,'' Myint said.

Shad of Clearwater was visiting her family in Dallas in 2004 when her brothers clicked on www.shaadi.com, a Web site claiming to be the world's largest matrimonial service for Indians. Singles search the database by religion, caste, location and occupation. The site gets more than 200-million page views per month.

Shad's father, Shabbir, a retired industrial engineer, and her mother, Shamshad, emigrated from Lahore, Pakistan, when she was about 7. At her family's urging, Shad, now 37, posted her profile and photo.

Top among her interests: watching Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant movies, "but don't get me wrong, I'm no couch potato,'' she wrote.

As she browsed Florida bachelors, Myint's profile popped up.

He described himself as a "hopeless romantic at heart," an artist, poet and musician who cooks, plays tennis and rides horses. Born in Rangoon, Burma now called Myanmar, he loves art, antiques and architecture and sometimes enjoys "simply doing nothing or perhaps catching a video of Audrey Hepburn or Zhivago."

Write to that one, said her sister-in-law, looking at his wavy, black hair and expressive gaze.

"Too good looking," Shad said. "Guys like that have egos."

Myint, 41, admits his profile exuded confidence. Responses poured in from Africa to Zambia.

"I was at the age that I knew exactly what I wanted. If I got one more, 'I love to walk on the beach ...,'" Myint groaned, leaving the threat to be imagined.

Back home in Florida, where she was a product manager for a credit card company, Shad found dozens of men responded to her profile. She replied to a few, then changed her mind about contacting Myint.

"I decided to test him," she said. How many Hepburn hits could he name? Was that movie line just a come-on?

Myint saw "an Indian Courtney Cox" when he clicked on her profile. He aced her movie trivia quiz and added his favorite Cary Grant flicks.

The two e-mailed frequently, but could never synchronize schedules to meet.

"With our work and travel, it was never the right time," Shad said.

They gave up in October 2004.

"I was dealing with so many family issues,'' said Myint, whose parents, Jameela and the late Dr. Than Myint, moved to Tampa in 1976. Dr. Myint pioneered the speciality of industrial toxicology and occupational medicine in Florida.

Myint attended Berkeley Preparatory School, graduated from Plant High and went on to study fashion design at the American College of London.

He modeled in Prague, Vienna, and other European runways for the Elite Agency and designed couture under his own label, Javid Myint Womenswear.

He returned to the states in 1996 to import textiles in Atlanta in time for the Summer Olympics and later opened three women's boutiques.

In 2001, Myint moved to New York to run an actors' management company. When the theater business dropped off after the Sept. 11 terrorism acts, he moved home to Davis Islands. He was working with his father to franchise their walk-in clinic concept when Dr. Myint died in July 2003. Using his new expertise, Myint became a Realtor and mortgage broker.

In May 2005, six months after his last e-mail exchange with Shad, Myint gave it another shot. "How about that cup of coffee?''

Shad almost declined. Why now, she thought, when she was thinking of moving to Texas to be near her family?

They finally met at the Starbucks at International Plaza. Their conversation flowed like the Ganges River. Both are Muslim, close to their two brothers and speak Urdu/Hindi. They already knew they adored old movies.

Shad was just as intrigued to meet an Indian man "who wasn't another doctor or engineer.'' Six weeks later, they flew to Dallas so her parents could welcome their future son-in-law.

By October, Shad left her job to begin the elaborate wedding preparations. She spent November and December in Pakistan with her parents shopping for wedding apparel, invitations and gifts.

Myint followed the plans long distance, delighted she was following Indian rituals.

"I had always pictured myself in a huge, extravagant wedding in the English countryside wearing top hat and tails, and I'd design the wedding gown."

Instead, the couple celebrated a week of traditional ceremonies in Dallas, including the mehendi night to paint the women with henna and the Al-Nikah to exchange vows and sign the marriage contract. On Jan. 14, they hosted 350 at the Omni Mandalay, where coincidently, the ballrooms are named for cities in Burma.

"My mom always wanted me to get married in Rangoon," Myint joked. The newlyweds also hosted a reception for 300 friends at the Tampa Marriott Waterside.

A honeymoon to India will come later. Until then, they'll be at home on Davis Islands channel surfing for old movies. Roman Holiday, perhaps?

Have an interesting wedding story to share? Let Amy Scherzer know at ascherzer@sptimes.com or 226-3332.

[Last modified June 15, 2006, 21:31:56]