"All about Raveena Tandon's wedding"

[harsha]

All about Raveena Tandon's wedding



www.indiafm.com/feature/04/feb/2002raveena/index.shtml

Dilwali (Bride):
Popular Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon (32)


Taqdeerwala... Dulhe Raja (Bridegroom):
Anil Thadani (34). Once divorced, Thadani is a film distributor from Mumbai who was in the news a few years ago for being threatened by the underworld. He was the distributor for Raveena Tandon's Stumped, which miserably sank at the box-office. His last hit film, as a distributor remains Aziz Mirza's Chalte Chalte



Their first meeting: Love not at first sight!
Incidentally the couple met for the first time on Valentine's Day three years ago at Olive. But contrary to all her onscreen lovey-dovey roles, it was not love at first sight for Raveena. However her first impression for Anil was quite positive. Waah…! Tera Kya Kehna




Wedding Wardrobes
26-year-old Delhi based designer Manav Gangwani is designing her bridal wear. A close friend to Raveena, though Manav hasn't designed for any of her films, he has crafted many of her off-screen formals.

Manav has also designed 3 exclusive outfits for the groom Anil Thadani. The bride's wardrobe, however, is ten times heavily stuffed than that of the groom, which comprises of around 30 rich and ornamented costumes designed by Manav.

Moreover Manav has also taken charge of the wedding wardrobes for the entire Tandon family. His creations include Churidar kurta and sherwanis for Raveena's brother Rajeev Tandon, 7 outfits for sister in law Rakhee Tandon, 7 suits for mother Veena Tandon and 5 outfits each for Raveena's adopted daughters – Pooja & Chhaya.

Farah Khan Ali, wife of DJ Aqueel, has designed Raveena's jewelry.



Bride's Brocade: No Shehar Ki Ladki !
The actress, who sizzled in mast mast item numbers of Bollywood with her hot-shot outfits, would prefer to go ethnic as far as her wedding outfit is concerned.



Sangeet function: an olive green suit with gold and kundan embroidery


Mehendi function: classic brocade


Wedding Day: For the D-day, Raveena would be wearing a maroon lehanga, which is actually her mother's wedding lehanga. It will be entirely reworked upon with real gold and embellished with some precious stones to match the uncut diamonds she will wear! The zardozi wire will be spun from real gold.



Guest list: Hum Do Hamare Liye Sab
Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan, Govinda, Hrithik Roshan, Farah Khan, Jackie and Ayesha Shroff, Manish Malhotra, Gautam Singhania, brewery baron Vijay Mallya, Ravi and Ritu Shastri, political leader Amar Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Sahara head Subroto Roy.

3 five-star hotels have been booked for these special guests.




Love blooms: Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye
After their first meeting, the duo did not see each other for the next two years. Then Raveena made her first film as a producer - Stumped and Anil met her for distributing the film. And though Stumped sank instantly at the box-office, love bloomed slowly and subsequently between the couple.



Engagement: Only Gharwali, No Baharwali
After weeks of speculation, the couple finally put an official lock on the mouth of gossipmongers by getting engaged in November 2003, just a day before Raveena's 32nd birthday. The ring-ceremony was a private affair at the Tandon's Juhu residence with only close relatives present.



Jeena Marna Tere Sang from: Feb 22, 2004
Sangeet ceremony – February 20th
Venue: Shiv Niwas Palace hotel, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Mehendi ritual – February 21st
Venue: Shiv Niwas Palace hotel, Udaipur, Rajasthan

Wedding – February 22nd
Venue: Jag Mandir Palace, a hotel on an island in Pichchola lake, Udaipur, Rajasthan


Religious ceremony:
As per the Punjabi tradition with Raveena's father performing the Kanyadaan.



Stay tuned and we will keep you posted with more news as the wedding bells arrive near.

[harsha]

Raveena to wed like a princess
Source : IANS. Image Source: NDTV

Her dream of getting married like a princess is about to come true -- actress Raveena Tandon has arrived in Udaipur, the city of lakes, for her wedding.



Come Sunday and Raveena will marry her friend and film distributor Anil Thadani in the erstwhile royal city in Rajasthan.

And the arrangements are certainly no less than that befitting a princess. She will tie the nuptial knot at Jagmandir, an island temple and palace in Lake Pichola.

Crockery is being flown in from France while special wedding chairs are being prepared for the couple. Silver stools on which the marriage ceremony will be performed are being given the final touches.

Boats to carry people from the groom's side to the wedding venue will be decked up and decorated with flowers.

The marriage, a complete non-alcoholic affair, will have a touch of traditional Punjabi culture - as Raveena is a Punjabi - but with a Rajasthani backdrop.

Though the ceremony will be a family affair, with around 162 people attending the wedding, the guest list includes top film stars like Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri, Rani Mukherjee, Govinda and Salman Khan.

Industrialists Subrata Roy and Gautam Singhania, politician Amar Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia are also likely to attend.

Raveena and the groom arrived in the city Wednesday amidst great fanfare. There was a lot of rush among the people to have a glimpse of the actress at the Udaipur airport.

Raveena's family had already arrived in the city a few days earlier to oversee the marriage arrangements.

Her brother Rajeev Tandon has been quoted as saying that Raveena once dreamt of getting married like a princess. "She once said she wanted to marry like a princess from Rajasthan, with its beautiful palaces in the backdrop."

"So we decided on Udaipur as the venue," he added.

The wedding venue, Jagmandir, was built by Maharana Karan Singh in the early 1600s. The late king Maharana Jagat Singh completed its magnificent construction and lent it his name.

In 1623, Prince Khurram, who later became Emperor Shahjahan, sought refuge there. His stay at Jagmandir is said to have inspired the Mughal ruler to build the Taj Mahal.

Today Jagmandir, owned by the HRH group of hotels of the erstwhile Udaipur royalty, is continuing the tradition of hospitality and serves as a venue for mega weddings.

A sangeet sammelan, or musical programme, will be held Friday, followed by a henna ceremony Saturday at the pool site in Shriniwas Palace.

And then Sunday, Raveena will marry - princess style!

[harsha]

Marriage in India

www.aeweb.com/India2000/Marriage.htm

Approximately 95 percent of marriages in India are arranged. Marriages that are not arranged are called "love marriages." Indians liked to talk about this with us - "Arranged marriages are good," "arranged marriages are bad." "Good in India, though probably wouldn't work in the US." The need to marry someone in your minute subcaste is still followed by almost all of the people involved in arranged marriages.

Interestingly people often asked us if we were brother and sister! This is particularly funny, given that we were trying not to be too physically affectionate to be sensitive to Indian cultural norms! I (A) asked one person why they said this and they replied that we looked alike, but my theory is that they thought Elizabeth was beautiful and were hoping that I was her brother.

Before traveling in India, I (E) found the idea of an arranged marriage to be unbelievably antiquated. However, after being here I can understand how it works in Indian society. For one thing, the emphasis on the family is much stronger here than in the U.S. Indians often live with their extended family, so in a practical sense the mate of an adult child must be a fit for the whole family, not just the individual. Additionally, there is the common cultural idea that love follows a marriage - - that love is learned as your ties to your marriage partner grow. Many Indians believe that you choose a marriage partner based on a variety of compatibility factors (family, caste, job, education level) and that with time love then grows. They believe that passioinate love is a immature, romantic frivolity and that is a poor foundation on which to base a life-long partnership.

To a westerner, arranged marriages can sound like a business proposition (not entirely inaccurate). However, Indians point to high divorce rates in America compared to India as proof of the success of arranged marriages. After working in the domestic violence field for many years, I know that India is a country in which divorce is socially taboo even when the marriage is not working (like when the man is abusive). I am (obviously) glad that arranged marriages are not part of my culture because I think that the Indian criticism of romantic love as the foundation of "love marriages" leaves out the part of choosing a marriage partner based on deep friendship and respect. However, Alan and I did have interesting conversations about how in choosing each other, we certainly were not straying from what our American "caste" might be. And certainly there are plenty of Americans who choose their partners based on factors that could also be viewed as a business proposition (money, education, potential success of the marriage partner). I also see that being reared in a western culture with a focus on individualism would make an arranged marriage an experience of cognitive dissonance. However, I left India understanding how its context of less individualism makes arranged marriages work for many people in india. Over the last few decades things have changed considerably within the structure of arranged marriages. Whereas in the past the soon-to-be-married would not see one another until the wedding day, now people often have several dates or "meetings" to see if the other person would be a suitable mate. It is not uncommon for the answer to be no. In this sense, the arranged marriage becomes like a set-up date -- except that the person setting you up is a parent or relative instead of a friend (!).

[harsha]

www.indianest.com/women/0072.htm

Arranged Vs Love Marriage

Recently I was watching a television biography of a famous female artiste who was bulimic. This made me think about arranged and love marriages from a women's perspective.


It is argued that love marriages offer more independence and freedom as compared to arranged marriages where the girl/boy is chosen by the parents so there is pressure to conform to parental expectations like producing a male heir, taking part in family rituals and traditions, putting up with sisters-in-laws, contributing to family expenses etc. One of the usual questions against an arranged marriage is that how can you marry somebody you don't know. Knowing somebody before marriage allows partners to have better respect and understanding for each other's needs and desires. This way they are better adjusted in the marriage when they finally take their wedding vows.

Not all love marriages have happy endings. Sometimes discord arises even in love marriages. In the west girls who are fat find it difficult to find suitable dates. There is pressure on the women to conform to conventional male ideas of beauty where women have to be tall and slim with hourglass figures. These kinds of attitudes and perspectives have not only created the kinds of conditions which I described above but are also responsible for women suffering a lot of pain and rejection. Beauty contests and the popular Barbie doll with its model of a doll with supermodel's figure have been accused of reinforcing this mindset. These kinds of pressures would just increase as society gets more modern and technology advances. Then, would women who refuse to conform get left behind? This made me wonder for a moment that maybe society should switch back to arranged marriages from love marriages since this pursuit for perfection in beauty would increase as society changes. On the positive side all this has also led to the feminist movements in the west. Women have come out of the closet refusing to be mere sexual objects pandering to male ideas of beauty.

Coming to arranged marriages, they offer more protection, security to the women. There is not much pressure on the women to look like models. Parents employ maturity and wise judgment when choosing suitable spouses for their children. Sometimes it helps to rely on another person's opinion and experience when selecting one's partner especially when the people marrying are young and need guidance and advice in marrying a suitable person.

This does not mean arranged marriages are the ideal sort of marriages. Having an arranged does not mean that the married couple remains happily ever after or that there is harmony in the relationship. Women have been known to stay on in abusive relationships for the sake of family pride, respect in society etc. Even in an arranged marriage there is a different sort of pressure to be fair-skinned and beautiful. In India the evil of dowry, caste and community issues and the concept of matching horoscopes, sometimes taken to its extreme levels have contributed much to the argument against arranged marriages.

It becomes difficult therefore to predict the ideal sort of marriage. So ultimately it is up to the individual to decide whether he wants to have a love or an arranged marriage after all it is a question of being happy in love.

– Nayan S Mijar
July 28, 2002