Archive for: April 2007

Abhishek Bachchan’s wedding to Aishwarya Rai is salted today(20th April), and the three-day shaadi is being celebrated in true filmi style. Although media has been totally barred from the wedding, the hype is phenomenal. But while Abhishek’s wedding is creating such a big hue and cry, Amitabh’s own wedding to Jaya Bhaduri, way back in 1973, was more low-key. Amitabh’s father, the late poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan describes his son’s wedding beautifully in his autobiography In The Afternoon Of Time.

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Amitabh’s two films, Namak Haram and Saudagar were both quite successful when they were released in February and March 1973, and his performance in them brought widespread praise. By the third week of May, Zanjeer had been proclaimed his first hit, and a week later, Amitabh gave us the news that he and Jaya were to marry.

As predicted by numerologist, tarot, handwriting and signatures specialist Niraj Mancchanda , Abhishek & Aishwarya are getting married before June 2007.

Abhishek Bachchan in number 5 & Aishwarya Rai is number 1. Add her date of birth 1/11/1973=1+1+1+1+9+7+3=23=2+3=5 . That’s her destiny number. She got Abhishek who is number 5. She was in love with him in the 32nd year of her life.

Aishwarya’s handwriting reveals that she will never go against her family and values her family a lot. She is extremely attached to her mother. The marriage has been agreed with consent of her mother.

Abhishek Bachchan comes to number 49=4+9=13. He needs to write his name as Abhishek A Bachchan which comes to number 50. There is chance of him having some health problems between 2007 end and start of 2008. He needs to get some pujas and upays performed to curtail the problem.

The sangeet celebrations for Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai wedding concluded late last night. Unfortunately not for everyone, since the Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan sangeet event was a highly ‘private’ affair. But don’t fret, we’ll get you all the details you would want to know about the sangeet celebrations.

The traditional sangeet scheduled for the evening is expected to be a duel choreographed by ace dancer Shiamak Davar and celebrity filmmaker Karan Johar.

While Davar has prepared the moves for the Rais, Johar will make the Bachchan family dance to his tunes.

There was dance, music and masti. Ash-Abhi’s extremely romantic tango number ironically from the film ‘Kyun… Ho Gaya Na’ choreographed by Sandip Soparrkar was a major hit. Both Abhi and Ash were colour co-ordinated in clothes designed by Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

Jaya and Amitabh bagged the second prize for their dance number on the popular ‘Kajra Re’.

Check out Exclusive Pictures From The Sangeet Celebrations

The Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding has led to guessing games over whose invited and whose not. There have even been suggestions that the guest list was determined by rival camps within the film industry and in political circles also. So, who better to answer all those questions, than the Bachchans’ best man and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.

Rajdeep Sardesai: There are many who are saying that the Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding as become a political one. That all your political rivals have not been invited by the Bachchans.

Amar Singh: This is a very disgusting question

From what the bride and the groom are wearing to where they are headed for their honeymoon, media is focusing on the most minute details of the Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan wedding. But who decides when private matters become public?

Now this is one big fat Indian wedding that you simply can’t ignore. The world’s most beautiful woman weds India’s most eligible bachelor – that’s the stuff headlines are made of. Or are they?

But do we people really care about the Abhi-Ash wedding or is it just media hype? Does the Abhishek Aishwarya wedding really make a difference to the common man? Is the media justified in devoting hours on prime-time to the Abhi-Ash wedding? Does the Abhi-Ash wedding trivia really have to feature on newspaper headlines?

Abhishek Bachchan’s Wedding Outfit

Abhishek Bachchan will exchange wedding wows with Aishwarya Rai wearing an outfit designed by Sharbari Datta, the well known revivalist mens-wear designer. It was Ash’s mother Brinda Rai’s wish that the Bachchan men wear clothes by Datta, India’s ‘only woman designer’ who dresses up ‘only men’ in traditional attires.’

Aishwarya’s mother Brinda Rai reportedly first met Dutta in 2003 when Ash was shooting for Chokher Bali in Kolkata and zeroed in on her for designer pieces for Abhishek, Aishwarya’s father and brother among others for the April 20 wedding.

I have despatched about 30 pieces of classical Indian dresses for the marriage after Brinda Rai said that I should design the clothes for Abhishek and the menfolk of the Bachchan family. I have reasons to hope that Amitabh Bachchan would also wear my collection on the day,’ Datta told IANS in an exclusive interview.’ They are various cuts and styles in maroon, off-white, electric blue and rust which I have used keeping in mind the 6ft 3in height and medium complexion of Abhishek,’ said Datta who for decades has reigned supreme in the men’s fashion world, weaving magic on otherwise bland pieces of kurtas and achkans.’

Come April 20 and both the Bachchan bungalows, Prateeksha and Jalsa, will turn into well-manned fortresses. Strict security arrangements will be in place when the former Miss World Aishwarya Rai marries her actor boyfriend Abhishek Bachchan in a quiet but high-profile wedding this week. About 500 police, some with metal detectors, would also be in place, the daily reported.

Since both the bungalows are located on the main road, special arrangements will be made to divert traffic and also solve the problem of car parking.

Meanwhile, special gate passes are being given to visitors, caterers, decorators and those involved in the pre-marriage arrangements.

CCTVs will also be put up during the ceremonies to monitor people coming and going out of the house.

Fire extinguishers will be on hand in case crazed fans of Rai and Bachchan set themselves on fire in disappointment or try to perform Hindu fire ceremonies to break the marriage, a tabloid in Mumbai reported.

The wedding card for the Aishwarya - Abhishek wedding comes in a big box, with three parts tied together with a ribbon.

The first contains the invite while the second contains 24 pieces of a special mithai made with chocolate imported from Switzerland and the third box contains a Ganesh idol.

The card also has the emblem ‘AA’ embossed on red in white gold.

The second page of the card has Lord Ganesh embossed on it, followed by a few shlokas printed in golden letters.

The third page has a Hindi poem written by late poet and Amitabh’s father Harivanshrai Bachchan while the fourth and fifth pages contain the actual invitation to the wedding at Prateeksha, in Hindi and English.

Pictures of The Wedding Card

The Mehendi Ceremony of the Ash-Abhi wedding will take place at the Rais’ La Mer in Bandra. “As per tradition, the ceremony will be held at the bride’s house in Bandra. It will be a small, private ceremony with only close relatives and friends of the Rais invited while some members of the Bachchan family may also drop in,” sources close to Rais said.

A special pandal has been erected in the compound of La Mer apartment in suburban Bandra, which houses the Rais for celebration of the Mehendi ceremony.

Aishwarya Rai will get henna for her mehndi ceremony from Sojat, a place in Rajasthan. Over 15 kg of local henna will travel to the Rai’s place where the Mehendi ceremony will take place. The henna packets would be sent five days prior to the wedding day.

“We have received orders from an agent in Mumbai for the Bachchan wedding and we are preparing special packets for them. We will send these packets to wherever they decide to get married,” said Nitesh Agarwal, a Sojat-based mehndi trader.Sojat and its surrounding areas in the Pali district of the state boast of the most intensive henna cultivation in India. Up to 90 percent of Rajasthan’s commercial henna production is in this area.Over 100 henna processing units are in operation in Sojat.

Last week was a real dismal one at the Box Office with both Provoked and Shaka Laka Boom Boom biting the dust. This week three different films have released and all three belong to different genres.

Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee is a youth based serious film.

Big Brother is an out and out action film.

Bheja Fry is a laugh riot.

So how did these three films fare at the Box-Office? Read on to know…