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| Divya Palat and Aditya Hitkari at their engagement last year | Actress-director Divya Palat will marry actor-VJ Aditya Hitkari on March 16. Though their engagement last year was a low-key affair, the nuptials have been meticulously planned. "We are all out to enjoy ourselves thoroughly. You get married only once, so why not do it in style?" says the actress.
Fun's just starting
The events lined up include a sangeet, a hen party, a bachelor's bash, the mehndi, two wedding ceremonies and the reception.
"This is the first marriage on both sides of the family; so it is party time for all of us. Friends and relatives are pouring in from all over the country and the globe."
Divya claims that though she is still "running around" for her trousseau and last-minute errands, Aditya has meticulously planned everything well in advance.
The ceremonies will begin from March 13, with the sangeet. "My sister Nikhila, cousins and friends have already begun rehearsing for the event," says Divya. "They, I am told, will be doing full-on Bollywood numbers. They have a choreographer who is going crazy with them."
March 14 will be the hen party, while Aditya has his bachelor bash. "I am yet undecided where the girls and I will go. Maybe we will have the party at home. Wherever we have it, I know it will be wild!" The mehndi function is on March 15, at Worli, followed by the wedding on March 16.
Royal seal
The circular wedding card of the Palats bears the seal of the royal family of Cochin. "We are Malayalis and my father (banker-author Raghu Palat) belongs to that family. Only at such grand occasions can we use the seal."
"We will marry in the typical Malayali way at a temple in Matunga. I will be wearing the traditional Kerala off-white and gold sari, while Aditya will wear a mundu. He will make me wear the taali.
This will be followed by an Arya Samaj wedding — the way Aditya prefers it. He is half Gujarati and half Punjabi." The wedding reception on March 16 is at a south Mumbai hotel.
Surprise, surprise!
The couple plans a 10-day honeymoon, most probably in Europe. And both are keeping their wedding outfits a surprise from each other.
"We don't want a coordinated look. I can only guess what he will wear, but all this will only add to the fun." Though Aditya (he comes from the Hitkari Fibres family) lives in Chembur, Divya says the couple will look for a new home in south Mumbai. |
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Aditya proposed to her in hospital
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Divya Palat in her bedroom at her parents' Pedder Road residence
Pic: Shadab Khan | Divya and Aditya have known each other for over 10 years. They first met at the Malhar inter-college festival at St Xavier's College, in which both were competing in the dramatics category.
"I still remember the date, August 13, 1995." she says. "I was studying in Jai Hind and he was at Sydenham. But it was theatre that brought them together again — they ended up together while acting in Aamir Reza Hussain's play, The Legend of Ram — and the friendship stuck.
"And to think that in the play, I was playing Sita while he was Ravan's son!" Today, they have their own theatre troupe, Balancing Act productions, which has staged the court drama, The Verdict, and later The Graduate with Zeenat Aman. Divya also conducts theatre improvisation workshops, called Imps.
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| As it appears on Divya's card | Last year, Divya was hospitalised after being diagnosed with Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (a severe, nerve-crippling ailment). She was in hospital for over 20 days, followed by 10 days of physiotherapy.
This is when Aditya proposed to her, in hospital. "It was an extremely
teary-eyed moment. His mother is a doctor and explained exactly what was happening to me. Aditya and I were engaged as soon as I was out of the hospital and could walk." | |
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