Badhai ho badhai!

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Increasingly, marriages across communities are sharing a staple diet of naach-gaana festivities, Bollywood ishtyle</span><br /><br />It''s a 70 mm reel being played in real life. The ritual of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Juta de... paise</span> <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">le</span> is no more restricted to director Sooraj Barjatiya''s films -- Indian marriages seem to have become homogenised family productions.<br /><br />Whether part of the individual''s community''s ritual or not, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">naach-gaana</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">joote churana</span> have become the staple diet for all weddings. Says the recently wedded Maharashtrian Durgesh S, "My wife is a Punjabi. <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Sangeet</span> is a part of their tradition, so my family joined in the fun as well. No one can escape the song-n-dance these days!"<br /><br />If it is not the traditional <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">dhol</span>, it is an orchestra churning out <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">bhangra</span> ditties. Says architect Devdas Shetty, "My parents organised an orchestra for my <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">haldi</span>. Soon all my uncles, aunts and grandparents were dancing!"<br /><br />Fun has now invaded even the most sober of nuptials. Madhuri''s Jute Le Lo has inspired quite a few to steal their <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">jija''s</span> footwear and claim money. At a recent wedding, student Gautam Pitale and his friends stole the bride''s shoes and took money from the groom! "The youngsters had nothing to do so we thought we''d play a prank," he says. Punjabi Amar Khanna insisted on his wife doing the Maharashtrian <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">naav-ghene</span> rite (where the bride recites a couplet with her husband''s name in it) because he thought "it was very romantic." Some brides now include a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">mangalsutra</span>-wearing ritual even if it is not part of their community ritual while some Catholic brides wear <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">mehndi</span>.<br /><br />K S Ashok Purohit, who has conducted marriages within different communities, says, "These days many request fashionable rites, even if it is not part of their culture. And if the couple makes a request, we respect their wishes."</div> </div>