PEOPLE
Truly, big fat Indian wedding
Chicago millionaire heir Vikram Aditya Kumar stopped
traffic in Auckland, New
Zealand, when he rode in
on horseback, a helicop-
ter and then a chariot to
claim his bride, former
Miss India Dr Pooja
Chitgopeker. Calling the
three-day event ‘mostly
choreographed theater,’
which reportedly cost
about $9 million, The
Dominion Post reported
that the groom’s father
had been planning the
wedding since his son
was three. ‘It was 22 years ago (I began planning the wedding). I guess I am also fulfilling family
dreams,’ Shalabh Kumar told the newspaper. Though none of the big names who were invited —
including Sarah Palin and Donald Rumsfeld — made it, the wedding was H-U-G-E. Vikram
started the journey on horseback with his father and groomsmen. A 200-strong wedding party, a
truck blaring Punjabi music and a plane pulling a banner that read ‘Vikram Aditya Kumar Weds
Pooja’ accompanied him, while a remote-controlled helicopter got video of the parade. In the
second leg of the baraat (a groom’s wedding procession), Vikram and his groomsmen ditched
their horses to fly in a nine helicopter-formation. Once on the ground, he boarded a Kiwi-made
chariot to reach his bride.
The bride and the groom — Pooja Chitgopeker and Vikram Aditya Kumar
VIKRAMANDPOOJAWEDDING.COM
Britney
dons
Peacock
feathers
Indian designers Shane and Falguni Peacock are continu- ing their lucky run this year.
The designer duo, who have
been making heads turn in the
international markets with
celebrities like Katy Perry,
Fergie, Madonna, Cheryl Cole
and Kelly Rowland, among
others, kicked off 2001 in
style by designing Britney
Spears’s outfit for the
video of her new single
Hold It Against Me,
which has already
topped the charts.
Of Jim Carrey, Ferragamo
and Lord Ganesh
Falguni and
Jim Carrey
Lord Ganesh is a favorite of many international celebrities — actress Goldie Hawn and Kelli
Williams revere him, actress Olivia Hussey
possesses a collection of his statues, and
writer-director Tracey Jackson wears a
Lord Ganesh necklace. The Ferragamo
family, Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan
recently discovered, is also part of this
league. ‘Had a wonderful evening. Went to
the Ferragamo show and then dinner with
the Ferragamo family. The highlight?
Being greeted by a Ganesh JI murti at the
entrance of their house, felt so good and
proud!’ Abhishek tweeted last week. But
actor Jim Carrey is having none of this. In
a skit titled The Wrath of Ganesh on
NBC’s Saturday Night Live, Jim (as erotic
shaman Lee Licious) and Kenan Thomson
(as Grady Wilson), mocked Lord Ganesh.
The skit has angered Hindus organizations
in the country, who have asked Jim and
the channel to apologize and remove the
show from all Web sites and other links.
Stephen Schwartz
From Broadway
to Bollywood
Broadway lyricist Stephen Schwartz has come on board for filmmaker Gurinder Chadha’s Bollywood-style
animated musical Monkeys of Bollywood.
‘As soon as I heard that Dream Works
Animation envisioned making an animated
Bollywood movie, I knew I wanted to be a
part of it. The fact that A R Rahman got
involved made it an even more exciting
project,’ Variety.com quoted the Grammy
and Oscar winner as saying. Chadha and
her husband Paul Berges will produce the
Dream Works project. Rahman is also look-
ing forward to the film, which is said to be
inspired by the Ramayana. ‘Excited about
entering the world of Dreamworks anima-
tion...!’ he tweeted.
Adding desi fizz to MI4
In a first-of-its-kind deal, India’s largest-selling cola brand Thums Up will
feature in Mission
Impossible 4 starring Tom
Cruise, the Business
Standard newspaper reports.
This will be ‘the first time in
Hollywood history that an
Indian beverage brand will
be seen as an in-product
placement in a Hollywood
movie, alongside internation-
al brands,’ the newspaper
said. Thums Up will replace
Coke’s international diet-
drink Zero, which is officially not available in India, in the release of the film there.
MI4 is partly being shot in India — around Rajasthan. Slumdog Millionaire star Anil
Kapoor features in the movie.
Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III
