Ash's 'sindoor' sparks speculation!

New Delhi: Actors Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan on Saturday made their first public appearance after getting engaged on January 14.

They were seen at a mass wedding organised on SP General Secretary Amar Singh's 51st birthday in Vindhyachal near Mirzapur in Eastern UP. Abhishek applied sindur on Aishwarya, which is considered a pre-wedding ceremony.

The entire Bachchan family—Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek and Aishwarya—was there to cheer him.

But the head priest of Vindhyavasini Temple, Rajan Pathak said, "The rituals were part of a puja. There was no marriage."

Singh, who calls himself superstar Amitabh's younger brother, is surely cashing in on the celebrity family's star value ahead of the UP polls.

Late last year, Singh took the Bachchans to the Sankatmochan and Kashi Vishwanath temples in Varansi. Amitabh has visited UP often in the recent times.

With Assembly elections round the corner, the political significance of these trips cannot be ignored. Abhishek was in November honoured with UP's highest award, the Yash Bharti. Amitabh has been featured extensively in a glitzy campaign showcasing UP.

Singh's supporters said the wedding of 51 couples was their gift to him. The Amar Singh Fan Club has organised a community wedding ceremony to mark the occasion.

"We decided to organise the mass marriage of 51 girls on the occasion of Amar Singh's 51st birthday," said Vijay Upadhyay, Amar Singh Fans Association President.