The excitement of a possible wedding between Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif – two of Bollywood’s most popular actors – in an exotic 14th century fortress has gripped Indian social media.
The couple will reportedly tie the knot in a mysterious ceremony on Thursday, December 9th, at Six Senses Fort Barwara, western Rajasthan.
The alleged wedding dominated the headlines for almost a month amid fears of the global spread of the new Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
While neither Kaushal nor Kaif have made a public statement or officially confirmed their relationship, a number of real-time updates about the wedding are regularly released by some of India’s best-known media houses.
These include the location of their wedding, the bride’s wedding outfit, which was designed by the well-known Indian fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the menu and a strict telephone ban for guests.
Some bizarre rumors cited in media reports said that drones flying around the wedding venue would be shot down and that guests would have secret codes rather than their names.
Meanwhile, the country’s paparazzi continued to chase cars and camp outside the airports in hopes of obtaining exclusive photos of the newlyweds and their families and friends.
Celebrities who are associated with the stars were photographed outside of the gyms they visited, on their way to doctor’s appointments, at the airport and sometimes while eating in upscale restaurants.
The decision to shield the supposedly high profile Bollywood wedding from prying eyes as much as possible has likely fueled the media hype in a country obsessed with movie stars.
The social media users have reacted to the lengthy reporting on the “VicKat” wedding – as it is now called.
Navneet Kaur, a medical doctor and Twitter user, said, “Katrina and Vicky Kaushal, falling overboard with wedding secret, is next-level chindipana (cheapness).”
The story goes on
Film trade analyst Sumit Kadel said the media must “respect” the couple’s privacy.
A social media user compared the reported logs around the wedding guests with the giant doll from Squid Game.
The couple didn’t address the rumors that they were dating. They appeared separately in 2018 on the celebrity chat show Koffee with Karan by filmmaker Karan Johar.
A clip by Kaushal from his interview with Johar on December 6th last year, which responded to Kaif’s admission that she thought they would look good together, was also widely circulated online in the lead up to the alleged wedding.
The actor can be seen in the clip fainting at Johar’s suggestion.
Kaushal made his Bollywood debut in 2015 with the critically acclaimed film Masaan and is currently enjoying the success of the historical film Sardar Udham, about the life of Indian revolutionary Sardar Udham Singh who murdered Michael O’Dwyer in London for the 1919 Jallianwalah Bagh to avenge the massacre in Amritsar.
Kaif’s career in the industry dates back to 2003.
The model-turned-actor has starred in several large budget commercial films, most notably starring alongside Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan. She also launched her own line of cosmetics called Kay Beauty in 2019.
She starred alongside Kumar in the recently released action film Sooryavanshi.
Kaif has been rumored to have dated Khan and his Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor in the past, but he has rarely opened up about either of these relationships.
Meanwhile, Kaushal was believed to be dating actress Harleen Sethi before dating Kaif.
Before releasing three mainstream films in 2022, Kaif will join her peers, including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Anushka Sharma, who undermined traditional gender roles in the male-dominated industry and captured lead roles after their marriages.
While Kapoor Khan is married to Bollywood superstar Saif Ali Khan, with whom she shares two children, in 2018 Chopra married American singer Nick Jonas in a high-profile event.
Female actors in Bollywood have been known to lose meaty roles after marriage, in stark contrast to their middle-aged male counterparts, who are cast to women decades younger than them.
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