Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai

Media reports of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan planning to tie the knot on April 20 have added to the feverish curiosity on the superstar wedding.

Ever since Abhishek and Aishwarya got engaged in January, media frenzy has been feeding an insatiable public hunger for juicy details on venue, date, trousseau and honeymoon.

“It (the date) must be true because the news was probably released from the Bachchans’ office. Its apparently a three-day-long celebration,” said a source.

Television and radio channels are adding to the cacophony. One TV channel has even gone to the extent of preparing a feature on the wedding with details of where Abhishek’s father Amitabh and mother Jaya will stand to bless the couple.

But no one really knows the answer to the big question – are Abhishek-Ash – as the couple has been fashionably dubbed of late – actually getting married on April 20?

“All this news is coming from Delhi and everybody is relying on a report published in one newspaper. The Bachchans are closely guarding the wedding details, but I guess very soon they will make the announcement just the way they announced the engagement.

But the reports are a little confusing because, if you see, every newspaper has a different version of the story,” said the source.

One media report said, for the wedding, Abhishek would wear a golden sherwani weaved by a Varanasi-based family that has been in the weaving business for the last 400 years.

Abdul Matin, head of the weaver family, said that two months ago they were told to weave a Chaodani (golden fabric with a base of warped silk) style fabric for Abhishek’s sherwani, which will approximately cost Rs.500,000. Some other weavers are said to be busy preparing Aishwarya’s trousseau.

The venue for the wedding is reportedly Bacchchan’s Mumbai residence Pratiksha.

It is the last wish of Amitabh’s mother Teji Bachchan, who is unwell and admitted at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital, to see grandson Abhishek settled that is said to be behind all the rush.

Since the engagement announcement, all newspapers and TV channels have come out with a different wedding date, guest list and venues.

Some say it is going to be a big fat wedding, while others are sure it would be a very quiet and small affair. As far as media rights of the wedding are concerned, they have not been finalised yet.

Aishwarya-Abhishek

The upcoming wedding of Bollywood stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai will be the greatest marriage in India’s modern history and could be as big as that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, a media report said on Sunday.

“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 and Bollywood leading man Abhishek Bachchan, the son of Asia’s most famous actor Amitabh Bachchan is expected to happen within a month,” the Observer reported.

The ceremony, set to be held over 10 days in a private estate on the outskirts of Mumbai and a palace in Rajasthan, is being hailed as a Bollywood fairytale and India’s answer to the coupling of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the report said.

“For Indians across the world this wedding will be as big as Charles and Diana’s was for the British”, Bollywood columnist Amita Ghosh was quoted in the report.

“The question people are asking right now is: why all the fuss about Liz Hurley? Perhaps this is why the media in India have turned against Liz, nobody really knows who she is. Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are our real stars and their wedding is the only one that counts,” Ghosh said.

The alluring green-eyed Ash, 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.

Abhishek 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, the report said.

Beautiful Aishwarya

With our handsome Abhishek Bachchan and gorgeous Aishwarya Rai’s wedding day being awaited by millions of fans around the world, a Kochi-based florist is ecstatic that his specially cultivated Heliconia flowers may beautify the occasion.

According to George Phillip, one of the county’s main suppliers of the ornamental plant, an order for 1,000 pieces of Heliconia flowers for a major Bangalore stockist, has been received, but was actually meant for the Bachchan and Rai wedding.

“We do have some orders from Delhi, actually from Bangalore through our agent, it is meant for Aishwarya Rai they had told us as per details given to me,” he said.

Phillip has 270 varieties of Heliconia, which he grows on five acres of land.

The exotic plant grows anywhere between 15 to 300 centimetres, and is primarily used for the decoration of halls and lobbies.

Bangalore happens to be Aishwarya Rai’s hometown.

Heliconia, which is commonly known as ‘lobster-claw’ or ‘wild plantain’ and is native to tropical America and the Pacific Ocean islands, is mainly grown for ornamental use.

Presently, Phillip supplies the plant to most cities in India.

“We are the main suppliers for the Heliconia in India and major growers and exporters. We are supplying to North India as well as to the southern parts of India…Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, mostly to Delhi also…Actually, we are just waiting for cold storage facilities at Kochi Airport. After that , we will be able to export,” said Phillip.

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai got engaged in January this year. The exact date of their marriage is being kept a close guarded secret, though the media has speculated that it could be some time in March or April.

See Heliconia Flowers

Ash n Abhi Marriage

The much-awaited wedding of Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan is the most talked about subject in Pakistan, a visiting team of Pakistani journalists said. Not only in India, but in Pakistan also Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai impending marriage is one of the most talked about topics.

The eight-member delegation of Pakistani journalists, who arrived in India recently on a 12-day tour, prayed at the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi.

Talking to the media, Tahir Mohammed Khan, a senior reporter from Pakistan said, “There is no difference between the two countries in terms of hospitality and affection.We are getting the same amount of love and affection here in India that we get in our country.” Hindi movies are a craze in Pakistan. The much-awaited wedding of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai is the most talked about subject in Pakistan. The delegation would also visit Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Of course it is the most talked about subject here in India as well.

So Aishwarya, intentionally or unintentionally, you just did a wonderful thing. Consider yourself of a small yet an important role in India Pakistan’s friendly relations.

Good luck!!!!

Ash Abhi

Now that Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, two of Bollywood’s brightest stars, have announced their engagement, attention in India is turning to what celestial luminaries have to say about the pending union.

The couple got engaged in a private ceremony on Sunday, and like most traditional Hindus, astrologers were consulted to see if the two were a suitable match before rings were exchanged.

Some astrologers are predicting the most auspicious time for a wedding (anytime before October) between the former Miss World and Bachchan, the son of Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchcan. Others are speculating about how Aishwarya Rai, believed to have been born under an unlucky sign, can thwart her fate and find lasting love (difficult, but not impossible). Oh! That can’t be true!

The couple has not set a date for the wedding, but astrologer Sanjay B. Jumaani was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s edition of the Times of India newspaper that it was auspicious for them to marry before prospective father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday in October, but not after Aishwarya Rai’s birthday in November.

Aishwarya Abhishek Wedding

Aishwarya Rai has also participated in a number of religious ceremonies in recent months in a bid to overcome the fact that she is considered an unlucky match for Bachchan. According to Hinduism, Aishwarya is a mangalik, or someone with Mars in her horoscope. “This indicates a propensity towards danger to life, unhappiness at home, divorce or separation, sickness, loss of business or hotheadedness,” celebrated astrologer Jajgit Uppal told the Hindustan Times newspaper.

In November, Rai’s and Bachchan’s families made offerings at a temple in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, an act reportedly intended to appease Mars.

Two weeks before the engagement, Rai and her mother visited a Hindu temple at another holy town, Pushkar. Temple priest Sri Sompuriji was quoted as saying by the Mumbai Mirror newspaper that Rai was given a prayer chant or “mantra” to repeat to make her dreams come true.

However, Uppal warned these measures might not be enough.

“Couples fulfill these (ceremonies) for peace of mind. But classical astrologers believe you cannot be the arbiter of destiny,” he told the paper, adding that it was better if a mangalik married another.

Huh? Alright Mr. Uppal, let’s see what offering by 1 billion people in India can do. Maybe then you will say that the measures are more than enough. 

We at Aishwarya Web.com would like to wish Aishwarya Rai and Abhishekh Bachchan, all the best and all the success in their married life. God bless you!!!