Not abroad, these Bollywood stars chose India for their weddings
Celebs getting married outside India is a trend probably started by Anushka Sharma, when she married Virat Kohli in December 2017, in Italy. Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh followed suit, when they married at Lake Como, Italy, last November. Both weddings were widely reported. However even a decade ago and beyond, some celebrities opted to get married here, at times under utter secrecy. Let's explore.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Also we have not included those marriages that have resulted in divorces. That's why the likes of Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta, Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan haven't been covered.
Despite global financial meltdown, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai got married in an extremely lavish manner in 2007. The wedding was attended by who's who, but there were some names like Rani Mukerji, Hrithik Roshan, the Khans, that were missing from the invitee list, which had raised a lot of eyebrows back then. On November 16, 2011, Aishwarya gave birth to their daughter, Aaradhya.
It also hit headlines as their kundalis didn't match, and that Aishwarya had manglik dosh. A famous Brahmin Vedic had said, "Aishwarya will have to marry either a peepal or banana tree or with an idol of Lord Vishnu (of gold or silver)." Reportedly, the 45-year-old either married a tree or a dog to get rid of her dosh, however regressive it may sound.
After dating for two years, Shilpa Shetty and London-based businessman Raj Kundra tied the knot on November 22, 2009. Touted as one of the most expensive weddings of Bollywood till date, it followed a combination of Mangalorean and Punjabi rituals. Shilpa wore a Rs. 50L saree, Rs. 3cr worth jewelry, and their nine-tier wedding cake at their posh Mumbai hotel reception weighed over 80kgs!
In 1999, Madhuri Dixit broke million hearts and married California-based cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Sriram Nene. Interestingly, he was completely oblivious of Madhuri's stardom, and watched a couple of her films before getting married. This arranged alliance was so discreetly done that even today, we haven't seen a single photo from that ceremony. They hosted a reception two months later in December at The Club.
Sports met entertainment when Lara Dutta said 'I Do' to tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi in 2011. The ex-Miss Universe was dressed in an Elie Saab off-white, all-laced outfit, comprising 10-meter long train and elbow-length flowy sleeves. After a private civil wedding in Bandra four days ago, they had a Christian wedding in Goa. The Victorian setting and the venue, Taj Aguada, upped the charm.
Kajol and Ajay Devgn, who were polar opposites in nature, stunned all by getting married on February 24, 1999, because no one knew they were dating for five long years. They got married in a traditional Maharashtrian style ceremony at the Devgn house. The wedding was to take place at a Gurudwara in Andheri, but when a tabloid flashed the venue, it got shifted.
No one thought Akshay Kumar would change his casanova ways for anybody, until Twinkle Khanna happened. They got engaged twice, after dating for four years, and married in a hush hush ceremony on January 17, 2001. The two-hour wedding took place at Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla's residence with barely 50 people in attendance. Aamir Khan, politician Amar Singh, renowned director Dharmesh Darshan attended the ceremony.
