Watch out for the "Galata Kalyanam," a wedding that’s surely going to generate a lot of interest among the people.
The Galata Kalyanam of ‘Supremester’ Raghava KK and 'Golden Girl' Netra. Raghava assures this reporter of lots of surprises and loads of fun in the wedding ceremony.
The ceremony will be wildly innovative and creative with an authentic South Indian touch. Raghava said: "We are South Indians therefore, we are celebrating our own culture and tradition. I'm not saying that it's the greatest of all cultures but even after all the international exposure that the two of us have now, this is what we are and where we come from."
“The theme of our wedding is to be rich in creativity without being flamboyant,” said a smiling Raghava.
Netra is all excited too. When asked about her wedding ceremony. With lots of excitement, she showed the heart-shaped set with their cut-outs and colourful light bulbs, the painted autorickshaw turned into a marriage-charriot and other eccentric stuff to be used for the ceremony. “Raghava has designed it all,” she said.
The bride will be clad in nine-yard Iyer style sari, which will be done by the actress Sridevi while the bridegroom will dress in MGR style — white shirt, tight white pants, a pair of shiny black pointed shoes and a funny blue coat that looks more like the wrapper of Shivakashi cracker box.
Fashion guru Prasad Bidapa will do the bride’s makeup, look and hair while actress Gautami will take care of her saris and overall look. Netra’s cocktail party dress has been designed by the fashion designer Rehane, her blouses and accessories by industrialist Sheela Goenka and ethnic blouses by fashion designer Namrata G. The coulple’s old friends Raj Shroff and Neetu Gupta are helping them with the designs too.
Many well-known fashion designers, choreographers, dancers and other artists from across the globe have been working to make their special day unique, Netra said. “We couldn’t have bought it all, they are all our friends and are doing it out of sheer love for us,” added Raghava.
The three-day ceremony has ‘sangeet’, simple traditional rituals, the marriage procession, reception party and a cocktail party. For the ‘Janvasam’, the marriage procession, the couple will arrive in the earlier-mentioned auto with Iranian dancer Hameed, petromax lamp carriers, Dapankoothu, tiger and rabbit dancers.
The traditional South Indian wedding conducted by vedic scholar and management guru Tatwamasi Dixit will be followed by a 24-course lunch.
The list of celebrities arriving for the cocktail party at the Taj Residency includes Sridevi, Kamal Haasan, Gautami, Vasundhara Das, Yesudas and Narayanamurthy.
The couple sees their wedding ceremony as just an excuse to meet all of their friends and loved ones and have loads of fun together. “Since we’ve been living and working together for many years now, marriage won’t make any difference in our lives,” Netra agrees as Raghava said.