(Photo taken from the film Umrao Jaan)Today's lavish wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan has generated levels of excitement in India the likes of Liz Hurley can only dream of. By Jerome Taylor
Published 20 April 2007, The Independent.
The couple themselves would make the ultimate Hollywood love story. One is a beautiful, green-eyed starlet who conquered hearts across the world with her stunning silver-screen looks, the other is a muscled, gritty heartthrob and heir to one of the most popular acting dynasties in the world. And today they finally tie the knot after finding love on a movie set.
But this is not the story of Brangelina or the latest Hollywood duet. This the story of "Abhiash", Bollywood's hottest couple, and the wedding that India has been waiting for with a level of excitement that could, perhaps, only be rivalled by a cricket World Cup final pitting India against Pakistan.
When Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announced their engagement in January after months of speculation, it was clear that their wedding was only going to be one thing: the Wedding of the Century.
Rai, a former Miss World and one of the few Indian film stars to have successfully crossed over into Western cinema (thanks to the British director Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice), is Bollywood's leading lady. Her husband-to-be is the son of Amitabh Bachchan, the godfather of Bollywood who has been known to churn out more than 60 films a year and is quite possibly India's most popular film star of all time.
When Britain's paparazzi descended in their droves last month on the western desert city of Jodhpur for the second wedding ceremony of Elizabeth Hurley and her textile mogul husband, Arun Nayar, India looked on somewhat bemused.
As one Indian journalist put it: "Ultimately very few people in India had ever heard of Liz Hurley let alone cared that she was getting married. Many Western journalists were asking locals in Jodhpur, 'What do you think of Liz Hurley?' and most of them replied 'Who's Liz Hurley?'. As far as Indians are concerned there is only one wedding this year, that of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan."
That would be putting it mildly. Both actors have remained two of the most popular Bollywood stars in recent years; an impressive feat in the highly fickle world of Bollywood where a single bad film or politically careless remark can result in this month's hottest star being replaced by the latest beautiful hopefuls who arrive in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood, in their thousands each year.
Born into a devout Hindu family in the southern port town of Mangalore, Rai first made headlines after winning the Miss World contest in 1994. Her vibrant jade-green eyes were an unusual asset for someone from a southern Indian state and she soon began turning heads in Tamil-language films before being snapped up by Bollywood.
Unusually for a Bollywood actress, many of whom remain unknown outside India, Rai managed to make an impact on Western cinema after winning over international critics in the lavishly produced epic Devdas, which was given a special screening at Cannes in 2005. Her starring role in the British film Bride and Prejudice, Chadha's popular interpretation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, made her a household name and her latest Western film, Provoked, which tells the tale of a battered British Asian housewife forced to kill her abusive husband, has received handsome reviews.
Her groom, who, despite his family heritage, initially found it difficult breaking into Bollywood, is now one of the highest-paid male stars in India, feted by both the press and hordes of screaming female fans. It was perhaps inevitable therefore that Bollywood's two hottest stars would meet on a film set and fall in love.
A marriage between two Bollywood stars is big news in India at the best of time but the number of column inches dedicated to "Abhiash's" wedding preparations has been remarkable even by the standards of film star-obsessed India.
Over the past three months, the country's numerous movie magazines, gossip columns, celebrity websites and chat forums have been talking about little else. Publicists have found it difficult to garner interest in their forthcoming releases, tantrum-prone starlets have been sidelined by the celebrity reporters who are determined above all to get the ultimate scoop on just one thing: "Abhiash" and their marriage. No detail of the wedding preparations - be it the colour of the tablecloths or the truth of a rumour that the groom will wear a golden crown once favoured by Bengali princes - has been too small for the magazines to detail in all its lurid glory. No snippet of information is too irrelevant to be billed as an exclusive scoop. Rumours of upset mother-in-laws, jilted ex-lovers and wedding day jitters fill the celebrity pages, usually with little evidence to back them up.
But such overwhelming press attention has resulted in the Rai and Bachchan families going to extraordinary lengths to keep the details about their wedding as secret as possible and the Bachchan family residence has been turned into a veritable fortress. All around the string of bungalows which are situated on a prime spot of the exclusive Juhu Beach area of Mumbai, constructors have erected a giant wooden wall to keep fans and, more importantly, the long lenses of the paparazzi out.
Guests have reportedly been asked to keep completely silent about the arrangements and more than 500 police officers are on duty to keep fans at bay.
Not that the incredible security around the Bachchan family bungalow will deter the most hardened fans. Throughout the week, stories of die-hard fans desperate to do something that will get them the must-have invite have peppered the Indian newspapers.
Prakash Pandey, a small-time confectioner from Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, whose shop briefly appeared in one of Abhishek Bachchan's films two years ago, recently announced he would travel to Mumbai and personally deliver an enormous tray of wedding sweets.
"When Abhishek came two years ago to Kanpur for a film shoot, he came to my shop and called me uncle," Pandey told reporters before boarding a train. "He is my nephew. I will be allowed into the Bachchan house as I have been there before."
A 17-year-old girl from the state of Bihar, meanwhile, has been working day and night for more than a month to finish a red embroidered sari that she wants to present to her idol, Rai, as a gift. Asked whether she thought she could get round security, Joyti Kumari simply replied: "I will try my best."
The contrast between the lives of these two fans and the idols they adore could hardly be greater - Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are two of the poorest states of India while Rai and Bachchan live the life of Mumbai royalty far removed from the slums and poverty around them - but they sum up how seriously India takes its film stars and how loved they are by their fans.
To the Indian population, the vast majority of whom live in the countryside, the cinema is often the one major source of entertainment and Bollywood stars, particularly those who play heroic roles, are given a virtually god-like status. Such popularity brings great political potential and many of Bollywood's greatest actors, including both Bachchan's parents, have dabbled to varying degrees of success in India's political system.
But unlike many Indian weddings, which often involve noisy and colourful street processions that bring the whole town out onto the streets in celebration, the wedding of Aishwarya and Abhishek is set to be a decidedly private affair. Abhishek's octogenarian grandmother is seriously ill and the family have reportedly toned down the celebrations so that she can attend.
Nonetheless, no expense has been spared for the three-day ceremony which kicked off on Wednesday with a pre-marriage party featuring songs, dances and skits performed by close friends and will climax today in the actual Hindu ceremony that binds the couple together as man and wife.
"There are seven types of Hindu weddings, ranging from very simple ceremonies where the man and woman simply exchange rings to weddings involving extremely complicated religious rituals. This wedding is the latter," said Ramesh Kallidai, head of the Hindu Forum of Britain.
Both the bride and groom come from devout Hindu families. In the months leading to their official engagement, both the couple and their families were seen visiting a number of important Hindu temples and the relatives have reportedly visited numerous Vedic astrologers and soothsayers to find an auspicious date for the wedding ceremony. According to Mr Kallidai, they could hardly have picked a more suitable date.
"Starting from last night, the next few days are considered particularly auspicious days for making a new beginning so, naturally, there will be many weddings this weekend," he said.
"The reason for this is because, on this lunar day, the holy Ganges river descended from the heavenly planets to the earthly realm. Any activity begun today, be it a marriage, job or journey, will grow and prosper."
But this is not the story of Brangelina or the latest Hollywood duet. This the story of "Abhiash", Bollywood's hottest couple, and the wedding that India has been waiting for with a level of excitement that could, perhaps, only be rivalled by a cricket World Cup final pitting India against Pakistan.
When Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announced their engagement in January after months of speculation, it was clear that their wedding was only going to be one thing: the Wedding of the Century.
Rai, a former Miss World and one of the few Indian film stars to have successfully crossed over into Western cinema (thanks to the British director Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice), is Bollywood's leading lady. Her husband-to-be is the son of Amitabh Bachchan, the godfather of Bollywood who has been known to churn out more than 60 films a year and is quite possibly India's most popular film star of all time.
When Britain's paparazzi descended in their droves last month on the western desert city of Jodhpur for the second wedding ceremony of Elizabeth Hurley and her textile mogul husband, Arun Nayar, India looked on somewhat bemused.
As one Indian journalist put it: "Ultimately very few people in India had ever heard of Liz Hurley let alone cared that she was getting married. Many Western journalists were asking locals in Jodhpur, 'What do you think of Liz Hurley?' and most of them replied 'Who's Liz Hurley?'. As far as Indians are concerned there is only one wedding this year, that of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan."
That would be putting it mildly. Both actors have remained two of the most popular Bollywood stars in recent years; an impressive feat in the highly fickle world of Bollywood where a single bad film or politically careless remark can result in this month's hottest star being replaced by the latest beautiful hopefuls who arrive in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood, in their thousands each year.
Born into a devout Hindu family in the southern port town of Mangalore, Rai first made headlines after winning the Miss World contest in 1994. Her vibrant jade-green eyes were an unusual asset for someone from a southern Indian state and she soon began turning heads in Tamil-language films before being snapped up by Bollywood.
Unusually for a Bollywood actress, many of whom remain unknown outside India, Rai managed to make an impact on Western cinema after winning over international critics in the lavishly produced epic Devdas, which was given a special screening at Cannes in 2005. Her starring role in the British film Bride and Prejudice, Chadha's popular interpretation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, made her a household name and her latest Western film, Provoked, which tells the tale of a battered British Asian housewife forced to kill her abusive husband, has received handsome reviews.
Her groom, who, despite his family heritage, initially found it difficult breaking into Bollywood, is now one of the highest-paid male stars in India, feted by both the press and hordes of screaming female fans. It was perhaps inevitable therefore that Bollywood's two hottest stars would meet on a film set and fall in love.
A marriage between two Bollywood stars is big news in India at the best of time but the number of column inches dedicated to "Abhiash's" wedding preparations has been remarkable even by the standards of film star-obsessed India.
Over the past three months, the country's numerous movie magazines, gossip columns, celebrity websites and chat forums have been talking about little else. Publicists have found it difficult to garner interest in their forthcoming releases, tantrum-prone starlets have been sidelined by the celebrity reporters who are determined above all to get the ultimate scoop on just one thing: "Abhiash" and their marriage. No detail of the wedding preparations - be it the colour of the tablecloths or the truth of a rumour that the groom will wear a golden crown once favoured by Bengali princes - has been too small for the magazines to detail in all its lurid glory. No snippet of information is too irrelevant to be billed as an exclusive scoop. Rumours of upset mother-in-laws, jilted ex-lovers and wedding day jitters fill the celebrity pages, usually with little evidence to back them up.
But such overwhelming press attention has resulted in the Rai and Bachchan families going to extraordinary lengths to keep the details about their wedding as secret as possible and the Bachchan family residence has been turned into a veritable fortress. All around the string of bungalows which are situated on a prime spot of the exclusive Juhu Beach area of Mumbai, constructors have erected a giant wooden wall to keep fans and, more importantly, the long lenses of the paparazzi out.
Guests have reportedly been asked to keep completely silent about the arrangements and more than 500 police officers are on duty to keep fans at bay.
Not that the incredible security around the Bachchan family bungalow will deter the most hardened fans. Throughout the week, stories of die-hard fans desperate to do something that will get them the must-have invite have peppered the Indian newspapers.
Prakash Pandey, a small-time confectioner from Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh, whose shop briefly appeared in one of Abhishek Bachchan's films two years ago, recently announced he would travel to Mumbai and personally deliver an enormous tray of wedding sweets.
"When Abhishek came two years ago to Kanpur for a film shoot, he came to my shop and called me uncle," Pandey told reporters before boarding a train. "He is my nephew. I will be allowed into the Bachchan house as I have been there before."
A 17-year-old girl from the state of Bihar, meanwhile, has been working day and night for more than a month to finish a red embroidered sari that she wants to present to her idol, Rai, as a gift. Asked whether she thought she could get round security, Joyti Kumari simply replied: "I will try my best."
The contrast between the lives of these two fans and the idols they adore could hardly be greater - Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are two of the poorest states of India while Rai and Bachchan live the life of Mumbai royalty far removed from the slums and poverty around them - but they sum up how seriously India takes its film stars and how loved they are by their fans.
To the Indian population, the vast majority of whom live in the countryside, the cinema is often the one major source of entertainment and Bollywood stars, particularly those who play heroic roles, are given a virtually god-like status. Such popularity brings great political potential and many of Bollywood's greatest actors, including both Bachchan's parents, have dabbled to varying degrees of success in India's political system.
But unlike many Indian weddings, which often involve noisy and colourful street processions that bring the whole town out onto the streets in celebration, the wedding of Aishwarya and Abhishek is set to be a decidedly private affair. Abhishek's octogenarian grandmother is seriously ill and the family have reportedly toned down the celebrations so that she can attend.
Nonetheless, no expense has been spared for the three-day ceremony which kicked off on Wednesday with a pre-marriage party featuring songs, dances and skits performed by close friends and will climax today in the actual Hindu ceremony that binds the couple together as man and wife.
"There are seven types of Hindu weddings, ranging from very simple ceremonies where the man and woman simply exchange rings to weddings involving extremely complicated religious rituals. This wedding is the latter," said Ramesh Kallidai, head of the Hindu Forum of Britain.
Both the bride and groom come from devout Hindu families. In the months leading to their official engagement, both the couple and their families were seen visiting a number of important Hindu temples and the relatives have reportedly visited numerous Vedic astrologers and soothsayers to find an auspicious date for the wedding ceremony. According to Mr Kallidai, they could hardly have picked a more suitable date.
"Starting from last night, the next few days are considered particularly auspicious days for making a new beginning so, naturally, there will be many weddings this weekend," he said.
"The reason for this is because, on this lunar day, the holy Ganges river descended from the heavenly planets to the earthly realm. Any activity begun today, be it a marriage, job or journey, will grow and prosper."
Fire and light: the Hindu wedding
Hindu weddings vary from the opulent ceremonies favoured by India's elite to village ceremonies for more than one couple, to cut down on costs.
Clothing, style and practices depend on caste and region, but the wedding itself has set rituals dating back 6,000 years.
Blessings are performed in the weeks leading up to the marriage. The day itself starts with the bridegroom and his family marching, accompanied by musicians and priests, to a covered canopy where the bride and her family awaits.
The father gives his daughter to the bridegroom, who is showered with petals by his bride while she circles him four times. The couple exchange garlands and sit down together under a wedding canopy.
Usually the bride's hands and feet are ornately decorated with henna. Aishwarya Rai has had the finest henna flown from the state of Rajasthan.
A Hindu wedding is essentially a fire sacrifice and under Indian law no Hindu marriage is complete without the presence of the sacred fire, Agni.
Sitting before the sacred fire, the bridegroom places red kumkum powder on his bride's forehead, ties a sacred thread to her and accepts her hands in a ritual known as Pani Grahanam. The marriage is completed by a ritual known as Saptapdi, where the newlyweds take seven holy steps around the fire, making sacred vows to each other with each step.
Those vows made in front of Agni are considered unbreakable and emphasise the importance of creating a loving and peaceful environment for the new couple and their children.
Hindu weddings vary from the opulent ceremonies favoured by India's elite to village ceremonies for more than one couple, to cut down on costs.
Clothing, style and practices depend on caste and region, but the wedding itself has set rituals dating back 6,000 years.
Blessings are performed in the weeks leading up to the marriage. The day itself starts with the bridegroom and his family marching, accompanied by musicians and priests, to a covered canopy where the bride and her family awaits.
The father gives his daughter to the bridegroom, who is showered with petals by his bride while she circles him four times. The couple exchange garlands and sit down together under a wedding canopy.
Usually the bride's hands and feet are ornately decorated with henna. Aishwarya Rai has had the finest henna flown from the state of Rajasthan.
A Hindu wedding is essentially a fire sacrifice and under Indian law no Hindu marriage is complete without the presence of the sacred fire, Agni.
Sitting before the sacred fire, the bridegroom places red kumkum powder on his bride's forehead, ties a sacred thread to her and accepts her hands in a ritual known as Pani Grahanam. The marriage is completed by a ritual known as Saptapdi, where the newlyweds take seven holy steps around the fire, making sacred vows to each other with each step.
Those vows made in front of Agni are considered unbreakable and emphasise the importance of creating a loving and peaceful environment for the new couple and their children.
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