As pre-monsoon showers obliged with a cool and rain-drenched morning here, Rajnikanth, sporting a traditional “Marathi-style turban” was all contemplation as his daughter sat on his lap and his wife Latha to his right, amid thousands of well wishers and friends packing the marriage hall.
With joyful tears in his eyes Rajnikanth like a good father gave away his daughter, Saundarya as “Kanyadhaan,” even as minutes later Ashwin tied the knot to the crescendo of “ketti melam” at the auspicious “muhurtham” around 7.30 am.
Even as the wedding rituals began as early as 6 am, traffic around the Rani Meyammai Hall in Central Chennai came to a grinding halt with hundreds of cars encircling its perimeter amid tight security, as people- particularly women draped in sparkling “Kancheepuram” silk saris rapidly streamed in to catch a glimpse of the ceremony.
In a mix of Maharashtrian and Tamil Brahmin customs, the wedding of Ashwin, son of Ramkumar and Hema Ramkumar, presented an interesting ethnographic blend though the core of the rituals were as per the “Vedic tradition.”
The superstar’s “Maratha” descent and his wife’s Tamil-Brahmin origins both reflected in the ceremonies. Equally, the special cuisine had “sweets from Karnataka” to drive home his early days of struggle in Bangalore. Rajnikanth’s favourite “Payasam” prepared in “Kerala style” by cooks, who specially came from there for the purpose, was also on the menu.
Spectrum of film world
The ceremony witnessed a large numbers of almost the entire spectrum of the film world and leaders from across all political parties. Aishwarya Rai, Rajni’s co-star in “Enthiran (The Robot),” and husband Abhishek Bachchan were already here at the “Kalyana Mandapam” late on Thursday evening for the “Nichyathaartham” (formal engagement ceremony).
Kannada actor Ambarish led a host of top celluloid personalities and stars, including veteran actor Kamal Hassan, ace director K Balachander, Mani Rathnam and his wife Suhasini, Radhika-Sarath Kumar duo, actor-turned politicians Chiranjeevi from Andhra Pradesh and Vijayakant from Tamil Nadu, actor Sivakumar, the famed Surya-Jyothika pair, Y G Mahendran, Prabhu, Sreya Reddy, several artistes and producers from the Telugu celluloid world, besides lyricists and writers including Vairamuthu.
Rajnikanth’s first daughter Aiswharya and her actor-husband Dhanush joined him in welcoming the entire South Indian film fraternity.
Union Home Minister P Chidambram, his son Karti P Chidambaram, TNCC President K V Thankkabalu, MDMK Chief Vaiko, Dalit leader Thol Thirumavalavan, CPI veteran R Nallakannu and D Pandiyan and MGR-ADMK leader R M Veerappan were among those who graced the occasion.
Jayalalitha, who was away at Kodanadu in Nilgiris, sent her greetings and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi came for the reception in the evening.