Bollywood, political bigwigs attend Saif-Kareena reception

The five-day wedding celebrations of actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor culminated in a grand Mughal themed reception here with political and Bollywood bigwigs in attendance.

Prime Minister's wife Gursharan Kaur, Union ministers Farooq Abdullah, Rajiv Shukla and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sitaram Yechury of CPI-M, BJP leader Arun Jaitley, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, lyricist Prasoon Joshi and actress Nandita Das were among the early guests to arrive at the reception that began around 8 pm at a spacious government bungalow at Aurangzeb Road.

Cricketer Kapil Dev, Congress leader Digvijay Singh, former SP MP Amar Singh, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and designer Ritu Kumar also came.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was also among the invitees for the Dawat-e-Walima, organised by Saif's mother Sharmila Tagore.

"Bless the couple and join in our happiness," Sharmila, wearing a gold saree and teaming it up with green jewellery, told reporters.

"The venue, the decor is not important. What I am wearing is not important, the marriage is. We are all very happy. There was no reception in Mumbai, just the marriage. We danced, we had a lot of fun. There is no celebration in Pataudi, not now at least.

"We may have something later. Abhi sab thak gaye hain. Abhi daal-chawal ka time aa gaya hain. (Right now we are all very tired and want things to be simple.)"
Antique props were used to decorate the venue.

"The theme is off-white and gold with mogra flowers. We have a stage set up inside and it is all in mughal style. We have used antique props, about 200 years old for the decoration," said Tipsy Anand from event management company Good Earth.

Due to a lot of VVIP movement security around the venue has been tightened and only people on the guest list were allowed inside.

Insiders said Kareena, 32, wore a Manish Malhotra dress while Saif, 42, donned a Raghavendra Rathore creation.

The celebrations for the year's most-anticipated marriage began way in advance with a pre-wedding bash at Kareena's Mumbai residence on Sunday.

The wedding took place at Saif's Bandra residence in the form of a registered marriage yesterday afternoon, after which the couple exchanged vows at a Mumbai hotel in the evening and hosted a post-wedding party attended by family, friends and who's who from Bollywood.

Shah Rukh Khan with wife Gauri, Priety Zinta, Karan Johar, Tusshar Kapoor, Anil Kapoor with daughter Sonam were among the attendees at last night's bash.