In cash-starved K'taka, Reddys roll out Rolls Royces for Rs 500 crore wedding
Bengaluru: Some 25 white horses, leading more than a dozen chariots rolled out into Palace Grounds on Tuesday as Ballari’s most famous son, Gali Janardhan Reddy pulled out all the stops for his daughter Brahmini’s wedding celebrations to South African diamond mine owner Rajeev Reddy, one of the most talked about weddings in recent decades, rivalling the popularity of many ‘actual royal’ weddings in the country!
On Tuesday, just after 4.30 pm, bride Brahmini zoomed into the mantap in a Black Rolls Royce Phantom followed by the cars of the groom Rajeev Reddy and their respective family members including Mr. Reddy in his SUV.
After a prayer session at the mantap, the family took part in an eye-popping procession - the bride and groom in separate chariots side-by-side along with their respective family members in different chariots that followed behind.
The chariots were preceded with samba dancers from Brazil which was the highlight of the procession ceremony. There was also Chande Vadhya (drummers), Yakshagana dancers along with Nandi Kolu who were leading the procession.
Sadiq Anjum, the Shivajinagar based businessman who rented out his horses for the pre-wedding puja on Tuesday, summed it up: “If the rituals and ceremonies that were meant only for the family members of the bride and groom are this grand, imagine what the big fat wedding on Wednesday will be like.” Even the gigantic balloons at the entrance had pictures of Janardhan Reddy’s family welcoming the guests for the wedding.
"The decorations and sets started going up at Palace Grounds on Saturday, when the wedding planners recreated the home village of the mining baron, the bride Brahmini’s school, the family’s palatial house in Ballari and their temple deity at their village, Gaaliavaruhalli,” said Sai Prakash, actor and director at Tollywood who was overseeing the wedding arrangements.
On Sunday was the Sangeet, where the family members of both the bride and groom were treated to musical events in which they too participated. Day 3 was Mehendi and Day 4 (Tuesday) was Jante Nalagu according to Telugu rituals which is termed as Vare Puje in Kannada, Mr. Prakash said adding, the wedding was planned keeping in mind all south Indian traditions followed during the time of weddings of royals and nothing has been missed out
