Now it can be told, the Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik marriage that is taking place in Hyderabad on April 15, will have its grand reception not in Dubai or Pakistan as is widely believed... but in Mumbai. Yes, and the date slated for this bigtime party to celebrate the union between India’s tennis poster girl sanie mirza and Pakistan’s flamboyant cricketer shaoeb mallik is April 18, a Sunday. Apparently, the new venue for the reception was decided on Monday after the Taj in Mumbai announced the reopening of its Grand Ballroom — which has been good enough in its old avatar to host Presidents and Kings, statesmen and godmen of the world, leading lights of Bollywood and Hollywood, international sportsmen, charttopping rock and pop stars, and the party of the year — the annual BT bash! That apart, careful thought was also given to the list of eminent international guests who would want to bless the young couple and would, naturally, be happier doing so on Indian soil rather than Pakistani.
Event managers, wedding planners, are already engaged in closed-door discussions with the banquet organisers of the hotel for the reception. Everything is hush-hush. The Taj, understandably, is being secretive about it all. Executive Chef Hemant Oberoi will be dashing down in a private jet to Sialkot in Pakistan to meet the groom’s family with his best wedding menus of the last five years. And, Police Commissioner D Sivanandhan has already requisitioned Black Cat commandoes from New Delhi to throw a security cordon around the venue on April 18. A celebrity event management company, used to working on the Academy Awards, is giving finishing touches to the programme. A sangeet of sorts is being planned in which the bride’s good friend, Bollywood hottie Shahid Kapoor, will dance. Then Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania’s tennis partner in the ATP doubles, has expressed the wish to do an item number with his girlfriend, Bollywood’s sex bomb and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta. As to who will be attending the reception, that guest list could be anybody’s guess, but BT has learned that the among the VVIPs will be former tennis superstars Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf. Sania has always been an unabashed Steffi fan and the German tennis legend has conveyed that she would be delighted to attend the reception with her American husband. From here, Steffi and Andre intend to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Former Pakistan great Imran Khan, a mentor of sorts to Shoaib, is also coming. His ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith, who was reportedly fond of the young Pakistani allrounder, may join Imran in wishing Shoaib and Sania better luck than Imran and she had in their own marriage. Who else? Among the international notables, Richard Branson, Martina Navratilova, Donald Trump, Prince William of Wales and girlfriend Kate Middleton, Apache Indian, Runa Laila, Gordon Ramsay, perhaps General Pervez Musharraf, Javed Miandad, singer Khaled of Didi fame, the actor Will Smith and a Mr. 50 Cent.
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