Gurgaon plays host to a big, fat TV wedding

The groom took a break in the middle of the wedding rituals to take a nap, while the baraatis took turns to sleep on chairs. These things might be unheard of in any Indian wedding, but this particular shaadi, which went on for three days in a Gurgaon hotel, was a little different. It was a wedding sequence shoot for the show Zindagi Ki Mehek, which had the two leads, Samiksha Jaiswal (who plays Mehek) and Karan Vohra, tie the knot.To make sure that it looked like the quintessential Dilli ki shaadi, an elaborate set-up was arranged at a five-star hotel, the bride wore a heavy lehenga and the festivities went on for three days. The film’s crew has been shooting in a farmhouse in Chattarpur.

While for the onlookers and other visitors at the hotel, it was fun to watch the actors walking around in their costumes and heavy jewellery, it wasn’t as easy and fun for the actors to shoot day and night and repeat wedding rituals till they got the best shot. “It is very exhausting, as we have been shooting day and night without getting any time to even sleep. It is for the second time that I will be seen as a bride in the show, so there is hardly any excitement in even dressing up as a bride. My lehenga has multiple layers, including brocade and patch work, and weighs around 5kgs and to give me a royal look, they have chosen a ‘Jodha-inspired’ jewellery, which again is very heavy. To be in this costume, makeup and jewellery is very exhausting,” said Samikha, who is from Bhopal and haven’t attended any Delhi weddings yet. She added, that after shooting so many wedding sequences, she has no interest left in attending any Delhi wedding.

Weddings in TV shows usually go on for weeks, and the actors told us that it has been many days that they have been shooting without any break. “We usually pack up by midnight and there are hardly any places in Delhi open at that time where we can go and chill. The only thing we manage to do is go to a friend’s place and just dance to let the frustration out. We also go for a long drive, but this wedding sequence shoot has been crazy. We haven’t really found time to even do that,” said Samiksha.

Actor Karan Vohra, who is from west Delhi, said that he has always preferred simple and low-key weddings, but the audience are used to only watching the grand ones. “Despite being from Delhi, I preferred to have a simple and subtle wedding with very less naach-gaana and band-baaja. All this drama and grandeur is irritating at times, but that is what the audience likes to watch on screen. I heard that government was planning to put a cap on the expenditure on weddings, but I don’t think that the government should intervene in this, as it is one’s own choice. But people should sometimes practice some restraint and avoid extravagance,” said Karan.