Former US First Lady Hillary Clinton and a slew of Bollywood celebrities including newlyweds Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas arrived in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Saturday for the pre-wedding celebrations of Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal.
The Maharana Pratap Airport buzzed with activity as stars walked out of the gates: Bollywood star Aamir Khan arrived with wife Kiran Rao, Abhishek Bachchan with mother Jaya, wife Aishwarya and daughter Aaradhya, Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Parineeti Chopra, Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita, Boney Kapoor with daughters Janhvi and Khushi, Siddharth Roy Kapur with wife Vidya Balan, John Abraham with wife Priya Runchal, Ronnie Screwvala with wife Zarine, Karisma Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Karan Tacker. Designer Tamara Ralph from Ralph and Russo was also spooted as well as Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar with wife Anjali and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with wife.
Isha and Anand, scions of the Ambani and Piramal business families respectively, will wed as per Indian traditions, customs and culture at the Mumbai residence of the Ambani family on December 12. But before that, a slew of events will be held in the city of lakes amidst high security.
Beyonce Knowles will reportedly add her star power to a gala evening as part of the celebrations.
On Friday, the families started the pre-wedding functions with a special four-day ‘Anna Seva’ to feed 5,100 people, a majority of them with disabilities. They will be served food three times daily until December 10 as part of the other wedding- related ceremonies. A specially curated exhibition called ‘Swadesh Bazaar’ has also been set up to showcase 108 traditional Indian crafts and arts from all parts of India.
Wedding guests have access to an app mapping out the activities.
“The event will have many visitors from abroad, so customs and immigration counters have been set up at the airport and will remain active for the next five days,” an airport source told Reuters.
Newspapers and websites have been full of details about the ceremonies, the designer jewellery and clothes, with some of India’s top designers dressing the wedding party.
The wedding invitation includes necklaces and precious stones stacked in a two-tier floral box, at a cost of Rs300,000 each (Dh15,542), India Today said.
- With inputs from Reuters
