Esha Deol wedding to Bharat Takhtani.

THE GREAT INDIAN WEDDING

ESHA'S 'I DO' DETAILS

BT brings you exclusive dope on the Deol girl's wedding to Bharat Takhtani. Mommy Hema is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that the four-day extravaganza, starting today, will be a much-talked-about affair

Upala KBR

Esha Deol's wedding to businessman Bharat Takhtani on June 29, at a suburban five-star hotel, promises to be a grand affair. The bride and groom are personally involved in planning the four-day extravaganza, with their families helping out. While Esha's mother Hema Malini has been busy shopping for the perfect Kanjeevaram sari for her daughter in Chennai, younger sister Ahana is busy organising the sangeet and a surprise party for the happy couple. And last but not least, father Dharmendra with his sons Sunny and Bobby, and their families, will be attending all the festivities, starting June 25. BT brings you exclusive tidbits on the upcoming nuptials.
BRIDE'S PARENTS' GUESTLIST
The film families of B-Town will be in attendance. The Bachchans, the Kapoors, the Khans and the Chopras, Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, Shatrughan Sinha and his family, Anil Kapoor and his family, Mahesh Bhupathi and Lara Dutta, Rekha, Dimple Kapadia, Bipasha Basu, Celina Jaitly, Fardeen and Zayed Khan and their families, Shilpa and Shamita Shetty, Vashu Bhagnani and family, Harman Baweja, John Abraham, Dino Morea and Nandita Mahtani, Raveena Tandon, Vidya Balan, Riteish Deshmukh and family.
THE WEDDING INVITATION
The invitation comes in a golden box with the initials 'E' and 'B' intertwined on the cover. There are separate invitations — all in gold — for the sangeet, mehendi, wedding and reception. The box also contains motichoor laddoos made of pure ghee and dry fruits, especially selected by Bharat. The box also contains a Radha-Krishna painting (both Esha and Bharat are Krishna bhakts) that the couple sourced from an American painter.
SANGEET (JUNE 25)
Venue: A suburban five-star hotel.
Guestlist: Select friends from B-Town, family and close friends. In total, there will be about 200 people, including Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal and Hrithik Roshan. Decor: Red-and-black colour scheme with a retro touch, flashing disco balls et al!
Dress: Esha will wear a traditional ghagra-choli in orange, red and indigo with gold zari work, designed by Rocky S, while Bharat will wear a blue velvet sherwani with gold zari work designed by his close friend Simone Khambatta. A special dance act has been put together by Esha, Ahana and Karan (Mani Ratnam's assistant), where both families will dance. While Hema will dance to her famous Dream Girl song, Esha will perform on tracks like Tauba Tauba and Dhoom Macha De, and Dharamendra's Yamla Pagla Deewana will also be played.
MEHENDI (JUNE 28)
Venue: Hema Malini's bungalow in Juhu. Guestlist: About 150 women, including Esha, Ahana and Hema's friends from B-Town.
Decor: Traditional South Indian, with lots of flowers, incense and diyas.
Dress: Esha will wear a mango-coloured lehenga-choli designed by Neeta Lulla, while Bharat will wear a yellow and brown sherwani with a waistcoat. Mehendi artist Veena and her team will design Esha and Bharat's mehendi, after which Bharat will give Esha gold bangles specially selected by his family. In the evening, there will be a mehendi party at a suburban club with a DJ and Punjabi nagadas.
WEDDING (JUNE 29) Venue: A temple in Juhu at 7.30 am. Guestlist: Only family. Decor: Deep gold-and-red colour scheme with marigolds, roses, and jasmine adorning the
canopy. The pillars will be wrapped with floral garlands and silk drapes in coordinating colours. Plantain trees will be put at the doors of the hall and mango leaves will line the doorways, along with decorative clay pots known as pallikais.
Dress: Esha will wear a traditional silk Kanjeevaram sari in red and gold with heavy traditional South Indian jewellery. Hema had specially flown to Chennai to pick the wedding sari. Neeta Lulla, who designed Esha's wedding outfit for her character in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, has reworked the sari and blouse for the occasion. While South Indian weddings usually have the groom going bare-chested wearing only a lungi, Bharat will wear a white sherwani with zari work and a turban designed by Neeta. The ceremony will take place at 7.30 am in traditional South Indian style, as it's been Esha's dream to be married in a temple.
RECEPTION (JUNE 30)
Venue: A suburban five-star hotel.
Guestlist: The reception will be attended by nearly 1,000 people, including Hema and Dharamendra's political, social and spiritual contacts, apart from their B-Town friends. Hema is leaving no stone unturned to ensure it is one of the grandest weddings of the year.
Decor: European style with a white colour scheme — including white flowers, drapes and candles. The food has been specially selected by Esha and her close friend and chef Shilarna Vaze, and will have all kinds of cuisines, including Indian, Thai, Chinese and Continental. Dress: Esha will wear a rose pink corset blouse with a mermaid-cut ghagra richly embellished with Swarovski crystals, designed by Rocky S, while Bharat will wear a grey tuxedo with a white shirt designed by Simone. A week after the wedding, the couple will take off for their honeymoon to an undisclosed destination for a month.

OUR TIME HAS COME: Esha Deol and Bharat Takhtani

PROUD PARENTS: Dharmendra and Hema Malini

Sangeet outfit

Reception outfit

Ahana Deol

Bharat Takhtani and Esha Deol

Abhay Deol and Preeti Desai

Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh

Hema Malini performed on her number Dream Girl to make the evening even more special for her daughter, who couldn't stop cheering through the performance. Esha's friends danced to her songs from Dhoom

Ranveer Singh

Pia Trivedi

Riya and Raima Sen

Dheeraj and Honey Deshmukh

Sohail Khan

Shveta Salve kept it stylish with a blouse that showed off her sexy back

Madhoo, who's Hema Malini's niece, was among the early birds. She had daughters Keia and Ameyaa for company

SHERA'S A STAR TOO
Though Salman Khan couldn't make it, bodyguard Shera got a lot of attention from the B-Town folks at the sangeet. Zayed Khan (top) greeted Shera with a warm hug when they met. A little while later Jackky Bhagnani followed suit

THE GREAT INDIAN WEDDING

Hema danced, slipped but didn't fall

Meena Iyer

Esha Deol and Bharat Takhtani's mehendi ceremony held at a club was a very private affair with just the family in attendance. Esha, who looked resplendent in a yellow and green Neeta Lulla creation, was seen giving gave warm hugs to friends and family before she sat next to Bharat on a bright blue sofa where the family's personal photographer took some special pictures for the family album.
Ahana, who had sent out invites for the mehendi looked stunning. With a pleasant smile affixed to her face for the entire evening, she shuffled between her sister and the guests making sure everyone was looked after. Aunt Madhu — yes she is still referred to as the Roja girl — broke into a dance when they ask the girl's maasi to step on to the dance floor. And while family and friends indulged in getting their mehendi done, it was Hema who danced like a dervish. Being one of Bollywood's most proficient dancers, the yesteryear dream girl who looked stunning in a chiffon creation, paid heed to the Punjabi beats being played by a live band and matched steps with the Punjabi mundas.
Beaming at the guests who stood open-mouthed staring at her dance she waved out to everyone around to join her on the floor and took turns to dance with Esha's ma-inlaw and also with Bharat's brother, who had dressed identically to the bridegroom. But the moment to cheer the maximum was the one where Esha, Hema and Ahana did a sweet jig with Bharat looking on very indulgently.
Honestly, they don't make women like Hema any more. Even when the diva missed a step outside the venue where she came to give photo-ops to the media, she handled herself with perfect poise, almost making her fall seem like yet another dance step. BT captured that 'oh la la' moment.

Bharat Takhtani and Esha Deol

Hema danced with Bharat's brother and mother

Ahana Deol

Hema Malini manages to avoid a fall

NO SUNNY, BOBBY AT
ESHA'S SHAADI

Instead, Abhay Deol performs brotherly duties during the wedding ceremony

Upala KBR

Esha Deol's wedding to diamond merchant Bharat Takhtani yesterday at the Hare Rama Hare Krishna temple in Juhu had an eclectic mix of B-Town celebrities, spiritual gurus, industrialists, close friends and family of Hema Malini and Dharmendra. Those present were Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Nita Ambani, Subrata Roy, Rani Mukerji, Anu Malik, Fardeen Khan, Vinod and Kavita Khanna and Vyjayanthimala (who specially flew down from Chennai to bless the couple). Surprisingly, Esha's half-brothers Bobby and Sunny Deol were conspicuous by their absence. Bobby is shooting in London while Sunny, who is in town, was also busy with a shoot. He had attended the engagement in February. Abhay Deol, who is known to be close to Esha, was present at all the functions. Here's a lowdown on the wedding.
VENUE
The venue at the temple was the Padma Palace (a replica of the spot where Krishna and Rukmini had got married in Dwarka). The mandap was decorated with garlands of orange marigolds and pink lotuses. Huge balls of yellow and orange marigolds and pink and orange fluorescent lights also decorated the Palace. There were silver chairs for the parents, while Esha and Bharat sat on cream coloured seats.
WEDDING RITES
Krishna hymns and chants and a live musical performance by South Indian women was heard during the ceremony.
Hema had flown in a priest from the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh to perform the rites, as Dharam gave the
bride away. The wedding rites were all South Indian, including the vratham ceremony, where at dawn the sacred threads are tied around the wrists of the bride and bridegroom. Bharat came to the mandap in a chariot while Esha was carried in a flower-bedecked doli. Hema and her family members greeted Bharat with an aarti and garlands after which he and Esha exchanged garlands. The bride and the groom then sat for the oonjal ceremony on a flower-decorated swing, while rice was thrown at them amidst traditional songs. Dharmendra gave Esha away during the kanyadanam, after which Bharat tied the mangalsutra. The event ended with the saptapadhi, where they walked around the holy fire
seven times, taking a
vow with each step.
Abhay performed the laaja homam, where the bride gives an offering of puffed rice to the fire. As an expression of sibling support, her
brother helps her in this ritual. The bidaai took place in the evening from Hema's Juhu bungalow.
WHAT THEY WORE
Hema Malini, her daughters
Esha and Ahana
and Bharat all
wore Neeta
Lulla creations. While
Hema looked resplendent in a pink and orange brocade Kanjeevaram saree along with a Vishnu Dasavataram gold and gem-studded necklace, Dharmendra wore a beige suit with a pale blue shirt. Bharat wore an offwhite sherwani with a brown brocade jacket in South Indian style with a stole. Esha wore a red and gold Kanjeevaram saree specially created out of three Kanjeevaram sarees selected and flown down from Chennai by Hema and Neeta.
FOOD
While special nariyal paani with rose petals and watermelon juice was served at the wedding ceremony along with an assortment of vegetarian snacks, a lavish lunch was served on the temple premises.

Bharat Takhtani arrives in a chariot

Hema Malini and Dharmendra waiting to greet the baraat

Vyjyanthimala

Amitabh Bachchan

Nita Ambani

Kokilaben Ambani

Vinod Khanna with wife Kavita

Subrata Roy

Punam Sinha with sons Kush and Luv

Rani Mukerji

Fardeen Khan

Pia Trivedi

Abhay Deol with Preeti Desai

Esha greets the media after her pheras

Abhishek Bachchan

Manoj Kumar

Ramesh Sippy