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| Foreign mediapersons, too, descend on Mumbai | | Abhi, Aish wedding – a big news | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, Apr 18: Even as the bigwigs from the ruling Congress at the Centre have, for obvious political reasons, chosen to avoid attaching any importance to the upcoming wedding of Abhishekh Bachhan and Aishwarya Rai, official agencies admit that a number of foreign journalists have begun to descend on Mumbai, Maharashtra's capital city, for covering the event.
The 'Great Indian Wedding' is slated for this Friday. What can possibly be a bigger media spectacle in India these days? Move over Team India, the blue billion have now set their eyes on Team Bachchan. Or so the media would have it. The media, print or otherwise, are simply awash with reports on Ab-Ash. You pick up any newspaper or tune in to any TV channel, you just cannot escape the Bachchans and their bahu-to-be!
Photos of the smiling couple are encroaching on media spaces like nobody’s business. In most cases, you would see Abhishek in some filmy event sporting gelled hair neatly pushed to the back by a hair band with Aishwarya by his side, looking up to him, apparently content to play second fiddle to the Crown Prince of Bollywood stardom. Or sometimes they are flanked by Big B and Jaya Bachchan and yes, the rotund guardian angel, Amar Singh (of Samajwadi Party), is also there somewhere. Even the horsy Bachchan daughter, Shweta Nanda, seems to have come out of the shadow to bask in the glory of her more illustrious family members.
And if they are not attending some programme, they are busy heaping encomiums on each other during media interviews — the father praising the son to the skies or the son telling the world that his papa is the best. In a recent interview with a news agency, Abhishek even went to the extent of saying that Shweta, who hosts a TV show on a business channel in India, is the future of Indian journalism!
And then there is the trivia or the hair-splitting on the degree of intimacy the couple enjoys. Were they holding hands tightly enough? Was Abhishek keeping an eye on Ash when she spoke to other men? What were they whispering into each other’s ears? If this is not enough, you have elaborate reports on how many kilos of henna have been imported for the wedding, what will constitute their trousseaus or what the groom’s cousin’s in-laws will be wearing!
Then there is endless speculation over what music is to be played during the sangeet ceremony. Will it be the Beedi Jalayle song from the Bollywood movie, Omkara, or the Kajra Re song that featured the Father, the Son and the Holy Bride? The latest reports say that the trio will apparently put up a ‘surprise’ performance of this number for the guests at the ceremony! Is there any surprise left? Most people would like to protest, and they indeed do, "Oh, that is sweet!" Yes, so sweet that it is cloying.
Of course, Bachchans are the First Family of Bollywood. They are a powerhouse of talent. And now together with the ethereal Aishwarya whose beauty and fame transcend borders, they are among the biggest brands India can ever boast of in the international arena. So they deserve to be in the spotlight. They have the power to attract the kind of following they have.
And, of course, Indians are obsessed and proud of their lavish wedding ceremonies. Indian wedding has definitely reached an iconic status in a globalised world. Thanks to Bollywood and some diaspora films like Monsoon Wedding and Bride and Prejudice, it has been catapulted to the league of Indian curries, bindis, IT outsourcing and other such things Indian that are acclaimed all over the world for.
No one denies these facts. But the mass, nay media, frenzy has to be leashed at some point. Even such frenzy subsided with the Indian cricket team’s ignominious exit from the World Cup! But when will the Bachchan soap end? Pouring cold water over whatever expectations there were of any full, exclusive media coverage of the biggest wedding at least Bollywood ever had, Bachchans have already made it clear that they won’t sell the event to any media organisation because they don’t want a ‘public tamasha’. Thanks, but the tamasha had actually begun about a year ago when people got a whiff of the romance blossoming between Abhishek and Aishwarya. The rumour mill started working overtime, with the Bachchans keeping the media on tenterhooks about the possibility of a Shaadi No 1 in the industry.
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