India celebrates Rai-Bachchan wedding
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM, Associated Press Writer



MUMBAI, India - Film-crazy India held its breath Friday as two of its biggest stars, the emerald-eyed former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, a romantic hero and son of an Indian cinema legend, celebrated their wedding.

The affair, hyped by Indian media as "the wedding of the century," was filled with the melodrama so beloved in Bollywood, India's flamboyant Hindi film industry: secrecy, dance routines and even a suicidal fan who claimed to be the groom's jilted lover.

Hundreds of fans cheered as Bachchan, wearing a gold-and-cream turban — his face covered with a traditional veil of white flowers — emerged onto the streets outside his home astride a white stallion, giving his admirers a thumbs-up sign while his friends danced around him.

Bachchan bobbed his head and punched the air with his hands in time to a Bollywood tune played by an accompanying band of red-turbaned musicians.

He then made his way to a huge, flower-filled, air-conditioned tent encircled by gold curtains in the garden adjoining the Bachchan family home — where — to the sound of trumpets, drums and clanging cymbals — he and Rai reportedly exchanged garlands and wedding vows.

Rai remained hidden inside the barricaded venue, but the Indian media was split down the middle with reports that she either wore a red-and-gold, intricately embroidered sari, or a gold-and-cream creation.

Bachchan, 31, and Rai, 33, were engaged in a private ceremony in January. They have appeared together in several films.

Rai, who first captured India's attention when she was crowned Miss World in 1994, has become one of its biggest stars and one of India's most recognized faces overseas. She has acted in more than 30 movies and starred in several commercials for cosmetic and cola companies.

Bachchan comes from a famous Bollywood movie family — his father, Amitabh, is a Bollywood legend and his mother Jaya is also a famous actor.

Hundreds of fans lined the roads, climbed trees or scaled buildings, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wedding party.

However, the festivities were marred when a young woman slit her wrists outside the Bachchan home in Mumbai early Friday.

Identifying herself as Jhanvi Kapoor, she said Bachchan had promised to marry her after they met when she was one of the dancers in a promotional music video for a movie "Dus" ("Ten"), in which Bachchan starred two years ago.

"He is not talking to me," she told reporters. "I want to know why he doesn't talk to me."

She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, then arrested by police for attempting to commit suicide — a crime in India. She was later released on bail of $238.

"This is a stunt," said police officer A. Mohite. "She seemed to have done this purely to catch the attention of the media."

To quote the song Dus Bahane, "You stole my heart from me"!

Model claims she is Abhishek's wife, attempts suicide

Syed Firdaus Ashraf | April 20, 2007 11:58 IST
Last Updated: April 20, 2007 12:20 IST


In a Bollywoodish twist, a model cum actress who claimed she was married to actor Abhishek Bachchan attempted suicide outside the Bachchans' home early on Friday morning.

Jhanvi Kapoor cut her wrist outside Prateeksha, the Bachchans' bungalow in Juhu, claiming she unable to bear Abhishek Bachchan's marriage to Aishwarya Rai later in the day.

Kapoor tried to file a complaint against Bachchan Jr with the Juhu police, but the complaint has not been registered. In an ironic twist, she has been arrested for attempting to commit suicide.

The Ash-Abhishek wedding

"We did not register the complaint because she was in a drugged state. We told her to come later with her parents," senior inspector of Juhu police station, Pradeep Shinde, said.

Meanwhile, Kapoor told mediapersons that she met the actor while he was filming for Dus. Jhanvi was one of the dancers in the song, Dus bahane. She claimed that they have been dating for the last two years, and were meeting regularly in Juhu.

'We exchanged phone numbers and used to interact regularly through e-mails,' Kapoor told the media.

She also claimed that Abhishek put sindoor on her forehead last year, and married her in the presence of some friends.

However, when asked for a photograph or any other proof of wedding, she refused to give it saying, 'When you love someone, you don't need proof.'

She also did not reveal her friends' identities.

Meanwhile, television channels claimed that Kapoor was a divorcee and was married to one of the sons of Maulana Kalbe Sadiq of the Muslim Personal Law Board in Lucknow.

Kalbe Sadiq, who was out of the country, has confirmed that Kapoor's real name was Naina Rizvi and that she was his former daughter-in-law.

Kapoor, however, has denied this.

She claimed her father was a Kapoor and that he died when she was a year old. Later, her mother was remarried to a Muslim.


'I was never married,' Kapoor insisted. 'My mother is in Scotland and I have been in Mumbai for nearly two years now,' she added.

The Bachchans have maintained silence on the issue.

Another tried to commit suicide in front of wedding bungalow

i saw her interview late last night and she is so ugly why would he pick her in the first place
i got up at 4am to see the wedding thing live you only could see a little bit damn, big b got pissed because when they all came out, the bus wasnt there to block the media view

u might have watched SANJAYA dude instead

Why the hell would Abhishek marry some ugly woman who was married to a son of the muslim personal law board worker? The thought that she was a model is quite shocking as I don't know how. Inter-religious marriages are taboo anyway in India, as are marriage of divorcees and she wonders how Abhishek chose Ash over her.

He's AB's son, he can do much better than that. He has done better when you consider the relationships he's had in the past with the likes of Rani, Karisma, etc. It makes you wonder how he could ever be seen with someone like Jhanvi Kapoor/Rizvi.

Leave aside the fact that he is Amitabh's son, has he looked in the mirror lately? Ever wonder why he feels the need to hide the face behind a stuble?

seriously with that sehra picture, he looks horrendous!! I hope marriage works lol

l'oreal took out a special limited edition lipstick on the colour she wore on the wedding day called bage aishwarya i think, i saw a ad for it on the english channels and its sold out at every english store down here ( my mom wanted it since that colour matches with one of her sari or something) and i found 2 when i was going to uni i went in the store to pick up some papper and the lady looked at me weird when i got the lipstick
they are making good money off this crap, i dont see how it was so big a lot of stars didnt come did you notice he called a lot of film producers and directors, looks like lil b still needs big b to get movie roles
the most annoying part during the whole thing is seeing big b second wife (amar singh) trying to get in every shot

[/img]

He looks like a typical UP, MP, Bihar local politician rather than a film star.

Seriously, I don't get it - why do people actually give a shit?!

The way I figure it; it's all about money, power & respect. Since both Aishwarya & the Bachchan family are advocates of certain political parties in India, there just might be alterior motives behind this alliance(oops! marriage). With Aishwarya added to the "Bachchan" family name, it gives a more solid image of this already established institution. Plus, if nothing else, this whole feasico is another form of reality tv soap-opera that the public loves to indulge on. In other words, we love to waste time on foolishness.

well, i wish hitch, not becoming ditch lol. may be Aish will take Jaya route to survive

I don't really give a rat's ass if Abhishek or the whole Bachchan khaandan dissapeared forever. The problem is all the hype in the print and visual media here in India. Even the stupid newspapers keep giving these ... front page coverage.