Fardeen and Natasha: Engagement

Bollywood star Fardeen Khan and his childhood friend, Natasha Madhvani who got engaged in London, expect to marry in Mumbai later this year, probably on December 13, according to the actor's mother, Sundari Khan. Natasha wore a shimmering, figure-hugging white outfit.

Natasha's mother, Mumtaz, and Fardeen's father, Feroze Khan, had been screen lovers in several Hindi films in the 1970s. Feroze and Sundari maintained their friendship with Mumtaz and her husband, Mayur Madhvani. Guests at the engagement included the head of the Madhvani family, tycoon Manubhai Madhvani. Feroze apparently discovered that the date for the engagement, May 5, 2005 - 050505 - was doubly auspicious because such a combination "would not occur again on a Thursday for another 10,000 years". "I didn't imagine in my wildest dreams that Mumtaz's daughter and my son would one day get married," said Feroze.

Natasha left Africa when she was nine. "Then I came to boarding school in England. After that I did a BA (Hons) in international business at the Regent's Business School in London, and then went to New York to study. I came back to do my Master's in London at the Regent's Business School," she said. Perhaps this was her way of saying she was not just a pretty face. "I look after the family's property business in America and Britain," she added. Fardeen also studied in America at the University of Massachusetts but grew up in Mumbai. "He's my best friend," said Natasha. "I have known him all my life, in fact, ever since we were babies."