Let’s face it, in a nation where the breaking news is rife with one unprecedented disaster after another and where there doesn’t seem much to celebrate across the world, Bollywood weddings appear to be the reason why most people get out of bed to face a new day; they bring excitement and cheer with their announcement, their minute by minute unravelling, like their mehendi artists! mandap decorators! designer lehengas!
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And what’s best is –you don’t even have to know the couple –or receive a gilt-lined – invitation from them –everyone’s invited.
It wasn’t always this way. Yes, weddings of yesteryear stars did make headlines: When the reigning superstar of his time Rajesh Khanna overnight wed Dimple Kapadia, it was the talk of the town- but it was like the other marriages of its time – sensational for the newsworthiness of the couplings itself: the older groom, the young bride, the midnight shotgun decision and all the collateral damage in the hearts of his fans –the focus were the people involved, not the production value of the actual wedding.
But as a consequence of the omnipresence of the big fat Indian wedding and the multi-billion rupee industry that supports it, these days the wedding itself has become an entity on its own, and the moment the public gets wind of a new star getting hitched it’s as if each and every of detail it involves becomes the birthright of the public.
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So, you have websites dedicated to imparting knowledge of which bride’s lehenga was designed by which superstar designer, who did the flower arrangement and even the name of the groom’s horse!
When did things change so drastically and when did the notion set in that starry weddings, especially those that involve the marriage of two mega stars, are a collective public celebration?
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Of course, weddings in India have always called for much fuss and fanfare. However modest a family’s earnings and whatever strata of the economic landscape they occupy, they are expected to come up with a wedding that punches above their weight when it involves their progeny. In a culture where austerity is generally the norm, the one occasion people are expected/ allowed to strike out on are these occasions when purse strings are opened and the party is on.
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But until not too long ago, no matter which branch of the money tree the family occupied-weddings were by and largely personal, private family affairs. From Mira Nair to Sooraj Barjatiya, the intimacy and personal dynamics of family relations were showcased and celebrated.
Things changed when the wedding industry itself became a multi-armed and many-layered business and added to this came the explosion of new media and the many platforms it offered for the dissemination of news and information. Now, there are paps, publicists and PROs to feed the public’s curiosity and vicarious pleasure in the spectacle.
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Recently, the change has been rapid. Whereas earlier the weddings of Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai, Saif-Kareena etc., had been headline-making events, besides the mandatory reception pictures of the flower-bedecked couple on the podium receiving guests there was a certain privacy afforded to the proceedings, with few besides the immediate families, and their friends and relatives being involved.
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How different things are these days. Besides knowing exactly what jewellery Kiara wore and how much it cost we are also informed in detail of the names and personal details of the couple’s families, what flower arrangements would adorn their marital suite, which mithai was distributed to the press and who danced to which number with whom at the after party.
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The first of these en masse national celebration star weddings was undoubtedly the Virat Kohli –Anushka Sharma betrothal From the idyllic destination venue of a heritage 13th century villa in Tuscany to the bride’s blush pink lehenga by Sabyasachi to the consignment of flowers flown in from Holland
The Kohli Sharma nuptials seemed to raise the bar as far as size and scale and execution went.
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This was followed quickly on its heels by the Deepika Ranveer nuptials at Lake Como’s famous terraced Villa del Balbianello, where it seemed there was no detail spared for the hosting of a dream-like two days that involved two separate marriage rituals (Konkani and Sindhi in keeping with the birdie and groom’s backgrounds), a bachelorette party in Florida and an elaborate sangeet and mehendi ceremony.
By now with the public’s appetite whetted for lavish, OTT extravaganzas, the Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas betrothal replete with two separate ceremonies held in LA and Jodhpur, a high voltage sangeet not to forget the bride’s 75-foot veil was more manna for a public hungry for such pomp and pageantry.
So, you could say the stage was set for the Katrina-Vicky betrothal as far as a hungry public was concerned. held amongst high security and secrecy at the Six Senses Fort in Rajasthan during the pandemic. From drones, plants and spies stationed inside and outside the venue and restricted and exclusive gusts list the event created a feeding frenzy for the media and resulted in acres of newsprint being devoted to the very little scrap of information on the proceedings for a public that lapped it up with delight.
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Now things seemed to be on a roll as far as national weddings were concerned and before the public had time to even catch its breath along came the Rolls Royce of star weddings –the Ranbir Alia wedding, which seemed to usher in Diwali Holi and Christmas as far as the public was concerned. Conducted in a refreshingly new style, at their own home, amongst their closest family and friends once again, the aam janta felt very much part of the festivities thanks to the media and appeared to celebrate along with the couple’s every step and smile –right down to the collective roar of applause that broke out when after the wedding rituals the groom lifted the bride in the compound of their building and carried her over the threshold back into their home-a photo op to beat all photo ops.
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By now, you would imagine that’s appetite for such megastar high-voltage spectacles would be sated and a feeling of ennui would set in. After all, how much of Sabyasachi’s unbridled creativity of screen legends burning up the dance floor and of breathtakingly beautiful wedding portraits could they digest?
But we are not even two months into the new year and the Kiara Advani -Siddharth Malhotra wedding seems to have raised the bar even higher. From the gana bajana, the mandap flowers, the groom’s Nani, and the bride’s lehenga… it’s as if once again the nation forgot its trials and tribulations, its troubles and traumas and let down its hair and kicked uno its heels in joy and celebration.
Another mega star wedding and once again everyone felt invited.
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