Game Changers

One of the most anticipated weddings of this year was surprisingly low-key

Seems like Lara Dutta got her wish after all. The Bollywood actor and former Miss Universe,who had time and again stressed that her wedding to tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi would be an entirely private affair,welcomed only close family and friends at the two-day-long celebrations in Goa. These were followed by a registered wedding on February 16 in Mumbai,also a low-key ceremony. The sangeet in Goa saw B-Town represented by Raveena Tandon and husband Anil Thadani,along with Riteish Deshmukh. Also present were Manav Gangwani,who had designed Dutta’s orange-and-gold sangeet outfit,and her other friends from the fashion industry — Wendell Rodricks,Lubna Adams,Farrokh Chotia,Aki Narula and Sheetal Mallar — a tad surprising,given Dutta’s years in cinema and the fact that Bhupathi is the owner of Globosport,a celebrity management agency. Is that why the happy couple decided to keep the shutterbugs out of the whole celebration?

For the wedding,which saw the couple exchange vows in a church in Candolim,the groom’s frequent tennis partner,Leander Paes turned up along with Vijay Amritraj,Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman. Interestingly,while the Dutta-Bhupathi nuptials were in progress in Goa,Videocon head honcho Venugopal Dhoot hosted his daughter Surbhi’s wedding at the Turf Club in Mahalaxmi in Mumbai. The celebrity turnout here was much higher,with Shahrukh Khan,Sridevi,Boney Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor in attendance. It’s being said that Lara-Hesh might just have a Mumbai reception for all their famous friends. The couple took off to Dubai,where Bhupathi is playing in the Dubai Open,immediately after their reception in Goa,where they strictly kept out the press.