Big-fat-wedding rules the roost!

He was quoted saying,“Girls want a wedding,they don’t want a marriage.”

The acclaimed author could have safely included Indians and practically the whole wide world in the category of people who like weddings. How else would you explain the huge TRP spikes that BBC and TLC witnessed during Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding?

But long before the Royal Wedding phenomenon,Rakhi Ka Swayamvar and some forgettable versions of it had already established the desi auds’ interest in the big W,something that channels have factored in their fiction programming. And Bollywood,despite its exploration of live-in relationships and others,is fast following suit. Band Baaja Baaraat (BBB),Tanu Weds Manu (TWM) and now,Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (MBKD)—in quick succession,could be a sign of movies to come.

MBKD,ably supported by a fresh and glitzy cast— Ali Zafar,Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif— and the predictable but breezy romance is easy to like. Besides,the starry line-up works in its favour. BBB,(also a Yashraj film production) though far superior in terms of well-nuanced characters and performances,got off to a slow start but with good word of mouth,picked up rapidly. TWM,sans an A-list star,quite like BBB was among the surprises this year but what was common to all was love and romance,cleverly weaved around the shaadi theme.

MBKD’s big opening — Rs 7 crore — goes on to reiterate that Indian auds still love to watch the big fat wedding and sangeet complete with Manish Malhotra lehengas,genda phool,naach gaana and the quintessential happily-ever-after ending. And frankly speaking,what’s not to like? Even the west,both American and European markets,relented to the charm of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding without much ado. The film swept up the awards and even fetched impressive footfalls in the year of its release.

In the more mainstream space,the runaway success of the all-time wedding zinger Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (HAHK) is still a benchmark. It was the film that won Dixit a lifelong fan in M.F. Husain who watched the movie umpteen times. Rajshri Productions,who produced HAHK,Hum Saath Saath Hain and Vivaah,in fact,have continually restored the industry’s faith in the saat pheras.

Though now they could face some tough competition from the Chopras. After two successful wedding films,YRF,if it continues in the same vein,could soon replace Rajshri Productions from its position of being the sole custodian of the Big Fat Indian Wedding Formula.