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WHEN steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal staged a 30million wedding for his daughter and 1,500 friends in the Palace of Versailles in 2004, complete with Kylie Minogue as the star turn, the message to the world was clear: in terms of opulence and excess, India's new breed of billionaire businessmen were equal to the Moghuls. But in a country where industrialists are feted like rock stars, the subcontinent's true "royalty" are the stars of Bollywood, and in a few weeks' time more than a billion Indians worldwide will celebrate what is expected to be the greatest wedding in their nation's modern history. With a guest list expected to exceed 5,000, helicopters hired to shower petals over the reception and the astrological charts finally predicting a union that is truly blessed, the marriage of the former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, 33, and Bollywood leading man Abhishek Bachchan, 31, the son of Asia's most famous actor, Amitabh Bachchan, is expected to happen within a month. The ceremony, set to be held over 10 days in a private estate on the outskirts of Mumbai and a palace in the northern state of Rajasthan, is being hailed as a Bollywood fairytale and India's answer to the coupling of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. "For Indians across the world this wedding will be as big as Charles and Diana's was for the British," said Bollywood gossip columnist Amita Ghosh. "The question people are asking here right now is: why all the fuss about Liz Hurley? "Perhaps this is why the media here have turned against Liz, nobody really knows who she is. Aishwarya and Abhishek are our real stars and their wedding is the only one that counts." She added: "This wedding is a fantasy come true for many Indians. We are talking about the biggest and most star-studded guest list in Bollywood history. The couple have a hit film out in which they star as husband and wife, but this is only the start. A marriage of two such mega brands from Bollywood will result in a US$100 million payday for both couples from spin-offs." The alluring green-eyed Rai, who is considered Bollywood's top leading lady and has several hit movies to her credit, including Bride and Prejudice, was named one of People magazine's 100 most beautiful people. Bachchan is the son of the king of the Indian film industry and a star in his own right. Their story has been sold as the tale of two people who found love after a string of failed romances. But the relationship almost never got to first base after complications over Rai's horoscope. Hindu families traditionally examine a couple's horoscopes to check for compatibility. Rai is widely reported to be manglik, meaning she was born under a poorly placed Mars that can bring bad luck to her husband.
To counter any problems, manglik women are usually required to go through a symbolic wedding to a figure of the Hindu god Vishnu.The union even has political ramifications. If the Gandhis are the dominant clan in politics, the Bachchans are the first family of glamour in the nation's film capital. Yet the subcontinent's two most famous families barely speak. The question now is whether old family ties will fetch an invitation to the Gandhis for the Bachchan nuptials
i hope it hasnt been posted before!!!
Anupamaa
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