| TLike all good Indian-style weddings the Ash-Abhi shaadi has exposed the sham of Bollywood as one big happy family. Though a wedding is indeed a private affair the Bachchans were also aware that every move of theirs during the wedding celebrations would be under intense media scrutiny, starting with the guest list.
Though the Big B claimed that the wedding would be a 'low-key'affair, it turned out half of Bollywood made it to Pratiksha. It's the other half which didn't that has clearly divided tinsel town and brought the camp war right out in the open. Here we look at how a simple guest list exposed Bollywood's secret wars.
The big fight:
Shah Rukh Khan: Jaya Bachchan recently claimed on Koffee with Karan that she loves Shah Rukh, well clearly it's not a sentiment that is widespread in her family. While the Bachchan-SRK war is old by now, the usually politically correct Big B opted to make his stand clear by not extending any olive branch. SRK's closest buddy and one of Abhishek's favourite directors Karan Johar was instead not only invited by also given the task of choreographing the sangeet ceremony.
Khan't come:
The Khans: The Bachchans invited Dimple, Twinkle and Rinke but left out Rajesh Khanna and Twinkle's husband Akshay Kumar from the guest list. "It's about personal equation that the Bachchans share with the star, we can't hold a gun to their head for not inviting people whom they are not close to," says a source. But this clear demarcation of inviting one person from the family and not inviting others didn't go down well with Akshay. Twinkle and Akshay preferred to stay out of the country and attend the World Cup instead.
And while it is perfectly clear why Salman Khan was not invited, Bollywood insiders are wondering about the absence of all the Khans. "He wanted to keep the Khans away because Ash had professional issues with Aamir Khan during The Rising. Now it seems that the Khans (Salman, Saif and SRK) are bonding and having their own party," says our source.
Even Fardeen Khan, who shared a great chemistry with Abhishek during Om Jai Jagadish, was not invited. And Zayed Khan, who shared a great bond with Jr B during the making of Dus, was also kept away from the do.
Past, imperfect:
Rani, Priyanka, Esha, Vidya, Bipasha, Sushmita, John: While Rani's cousin Kajol was invited for all the ceremonies, Rani and her family were not. This is after Bachchans have openly admitted that Rani is just like family for them. Incidentally, Abhishek's biggest hits have been with Rani and she too gave her best performance with Senior B in Black. Even Priyanka Chopra (who Abhishek fondly calls Piggy Chops) was not invited for the grand event. "Amitabh made it a point to not invite any of the actors who has been linked with Abhishek in past," says our source. John and Bipasha were also not invited because nobody in the family is particularly enamoured of John's new star status.
The family even ignored Sushmita Sen, who Abhishek often calls 'didi'. Wonder if it had anything to do with the one-time Ash-Sush rivalry?
Bachchpan Ke Dost
Farhan Akhtar: Abhishek made sure that all his longtime buddies like Rohan Sippy, Apoorva Lakhiya, Chirag Doshi and Sikander Kher were there but he conveniently ignored Farhan Akhtar and his family. "Farhan is close to SRK's camp, so it was natural that he wouldn't be invited for the wedding. This despite the fact that Farhan shares a brilliant rapport with Abhishek and they have been childhood buddies," says our source.
Divide and fool?
Hema Malini: Dreamgirl Hema Malini was not happy about the fact that the Bachchans had only invited her and Dharmendra, not daughters Esha and Ahana for the wedding. "Hemaji was extremely miffed with the Bachchans, considering the fact that Jaya has always claimed that Esha is like a daughter to her. It was humiliating for a star like Hemaji to attend the wedding after her daughters were snubbed by the family. Esha, who shared screen-space with Abhishek during Dus and Dhoom, was also upset with their behaviour. Just to protest, even Dharmendra decided to not attend the wedding," says our source.
| The big fight | Doom macha de! | | |
Not calling the shots:
The prominent filmmakers: If anyone wanted to know who AB and Baby would be working with in the near-future all they needed to do was to see the roster of directors invited and those left out. Amongst the latter were Ravi Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Was Bhansali kept out because of his avowed fondness for Salman? Your guess is as good as ours.
While most of the Yashraj camp directors were on the guest list, the Bachchans didn't invite Sanjay Gadhvi. No prizes for guessing why. "They had fallen through after the Dhoom 2 controversy. Abhishek is miffed with Sanjay for not letting him know about the kissing scene between Hrithik and Ash in Dhoom 2," says our source.
| Dus bahane... | Divide and fool? | | |
Dost Dost na raha
Hrithik Roshan: Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan have been childhood friends and have always shared a warm relationship. Unfortunately, the relationship soured when the Bachchans disapproved of the Ash-Hrithik lip lock in Dhoom 2. Abhishek and his family were not happy that Ash and Hrithik shared a hot passionate kiss on-screen. Also, Hrithik walking away with all the plaudits in Dhoom 2 did not go down well with Bollywood's first family.
The hostilities went further when Hrithik replaced Abhishek in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Dilli 6. The film is apparently based on Mehra's own life during his childhood in Delhi. According our source "Bachchan's production house AB Corp wanted to co-produce the film with UTV. However, things didn't plan out like that and hence Abhishek backed out of the film."
Recently, Hrithik decided to back out from an international tour he was planning to with the Bachchans, because the organisers were promoting it as 'The Bachchan Show', and it didn't go well with Duggu. After giving two big blockbusters like Krrish and Dhoom 2, Hrithik is no doubt a bigger star than AB Jr.
Not just that, Hrithik is also upset with Ash. Apparently they both were shooting for Ashutosh's magnum opus Jodha Akbar, and it was during the same time Ash started distributing her wedding cards. Insiders reveal that Ash wanted to invite Hrithik, but she couldn't because Bachchans were not too keen on inviting the Roshans. "Bachchans kept friends like Salman and Rani out from the wedding because of Ash, so she had to return the favour," says our source.
| Past, Imperfect | Khan't come | | |
Guest list, the Bachchans didn't invite Sanjay Gadhvi. No prizes for guessing why. "They had fallen through after the Dhoom 2 controversy. Abhishek is miffed with Sanjay for not letting him know about the kissing scene between Hrithik and Ash in Dhoom 2," says our source.
Dost Dost na raha
Hrithik Roshan: Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan have been childhood friends and have always shared a warm relationship. Unfortunately, the relationship soured when the Bachchans disapproved of the Ash-Hrithik lip lock in Dhoom 2. Abhishek and his family were not happy that Ash and Hrithik shared a hot passionate kiss on-screen. Also, Hrithik walking away with all the plaudits in Dhoom 2 did not go down well with Bollywood's first family.
The hostilities went further when Hrithik replaced Abhishek in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Dilli 6. The film is apparently based on Mehra's own life during his childhood in Delhi. According our source "Bachchan's production house AB Corp wanted to co-produce the film with UTV. However, things didn't plan out like that and hence Abhishek backed out of the film."
| Not calling the shots | Did someone say didi? | | |
Recently, Hrithik decided to back out from an international tour he was planning to with the Bachchans, because the organisers were promoting it as 'The Bachchan Show', and it didn't go well with Duggu. After giving two big blockbusters like Krrish and Dhoom 2, Hrithik is no doubt a bigger star than AB Jr. |
Shiv Shakti
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