Riteish-Genelia wed, as film and politics mingle

Mumbai - A beaming Genelia D'Souza was dressed as a Maharashtrian bride in a red-golden designer sari and dupatta while the groom Riteish Deshmukh donned a cream sherwani for their wedding here Friday.

The traditional Maharashtrian style ceremony was attended by the 'Who is Who' of showbiz and politics.

Genelia, who belongs to a Mangalorean Catholic family, not only wore Nav-vari (nine yard sari), the traditional sari created by Neeta Lulla, she also sported a nose ring and tied the mundawali - a decorative strings of pearls - around her forehead.

Riteish, the younger son of former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, too sported a typical Marathi groom's attire - the sherwani, red turban and mundawali.

The lavish wedding was organised at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Santa Cruz and Bollywood stars and politicians turned up in large numbers to bless the couple. The 'bidai' is at 5.30 in the evening.

Designer Niska Lulla tweeted: "My sweetest @geneliad makes a gorgeous bride in @neeta_lulla wedding sari and styled by me."

Ken Ghosh posted a picture of the couple on Twitter and wrote: "These two are one! @Riteishd and @geneliad God bless ... oho Genelia doesn't need to change her twitter handle.

From Bollywood, Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Karan and Hiroo Johar, Kajol-Ajay Devgn, Sohail Khan, Indra Kumar, Ashutosh Gowarikar and his wife Sunita to Shweta Pandit, Sajid Nadiadwala, Maria Goretti, Jackie Shroff, Sajid Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hussain-Tina, Ashish Chowdhary and his wife Samita Bangargi, Sujoy Ghosh, Asin Thottumkal, and Sophie Choudry came to bless the couple.

Industrialist Anil Ambani's wife Tina too came for the high profile wedding.

Among the politicians, the guest list included names like the state Congress chief Kripashankar Singh, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan and Aditya Thackeray, son of Shiva Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, along with his wife, and Minister for Public Works and Tourism Chhagan Bhujbal too came for the wedding.

Riteish and Genelia first met while shooting for their debut film "Tujhe Meri Kasam" in 2003. They have been together for years but kept their affairs under wraps till recently.

Post-marriage, they have a new release coming up titled, "Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya".