Manchu Manoj's big fat wedding a gala affair ......

Even as Bollywood celebrities made a dash to Cannes International Film Festival, actor Mohan Babu hosted an extravagant arrangement for the South Indian celebrities at his son’s wedding in Hyderabad on Wednesday. An Indian wedding is – by default – a mix of colours, fun, celebration, music, a lot of hungama, hordes of guests and scrumptious food. Actor Manchu Manoj went all out to ensure this big fat wedding with Pranathi Reddy. The wedding fare was peppered with lots of glamour, glitz and style with a bevy of celebrities queuing up to bless the couple.

Well, larger than life it seems, doesn’t it? Here’s a peek into the wedding:

Ambience

Bouncers, security guards and walkie-talkies. Sarees, ghaghras, jewellery and lots of glitter. A mandapam big enough to accommodate at least 100 people at a time. That’s a gist of the gala wedding. The venue was adorned with Ramesh Gorjala’s paintings which spruced up the fare. More than the ambience what attracted our attention were the life size banners of the newlyweds that adorned the path leading to the mandapam. Several fan clubs showered their best wishes to the couple.

Where can you find something like that except in a film star’s wedding?

Celebrity galore

The who’s who of the south film industry made their presence felt at the ceremony! Rajinikanth, Balakrishna, Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu, Prabhas and Suriya were amongst the stars who made it to the event. Even music maestro Illaiyaraaja created a buzz with his attendance.

Politicos too made a beeline to the wedding. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao, Governor ESL Narasimhan, former central minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and YSRCP chief Jagan among other ministers of the two Telugu-speaking states were spotted at the do.

Fan frenzy

On the big screens erected at most corners of the function hall, one could see the stars as they made their way from their swanky cars to the venue. And just as they were spotted on screen, the attention of most people in the hall shifted towards the entrance. Well, that didn’t end immediately as people crowded the mandapam till all the actors left! In the case of Prabhas, it was a good 20 minutes as he stayed around really long and seemed to enjoy the festivities. It was a sight worth watching as fans held their cameras hoping to capture a glimpse of a star.

Food

It’s not a surprise that such extravagant and star-studded events will have a delicious spread of food that is wide in variety and amazing in quality. But who knew you’d get two-three varieties of everything? Themed as a south Indian breakfast, we had the best ‘tiffins’ from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala on a platter.

There were two varieties of idlis – the regular ones and the mini idlis. There were four varieties of vadas – medu vada, uddi vada, vadai and the masala vada. Well, that’s just an intro to other delicacies including akki roti, bisi bele bath, pongal, set dosa and masala dosa amongst a few others. All these were paired up with an array of chutnies and powders.

After devouring those 30 odd varieties of breakfast, if one still had space in the tummy, there was again a lavish spread of around eight sweets to tease everyone’s taste buds including the Telugu varieties bobbatlu and ariselu. What more can one expect? A big fat wedding indeed!

By Pranita Jonnalagedda