Why Hrithik wanted a church wedding

Religious differences have never been a barrier among Bollywod's famous couples, says Bharathi Pradhan. In this excerpt from her book, Colas, Cars & Communal Harmony, she looks at the marriage between the highly popular Hrithik Roshan and the beautiful Suzanne Khan:

Part I: 'She's a Muslim'

In fact, since Hrithik wedded Suzanne at the height of his phenomenal success, effort was spent more in planning a beautiful wedding far away from the madding crowds. There was more discussion in how to keep away the milling curious than in how to merge two different religious rites. That, as a matter of fact, figured more in its absence at the most celebrated winter wedding of 2000.

The bride's father Sanjay Khan's sprawling new luxury spa Golden Palms in Bangalore provided the perfect venue for the family event and the traditionally renowned Khan family hospitality ensured impeccable arrangements.

Don't Miss Part I! Hrithik: She's a Muslim

"We did our own thing," Hrithik describes his wedding like an enthusiastic bridegroom. "We had neither a Hindu ceremony nor a nikaah. Actually, both of us had always wanted a church wedding. I've always been inspired by them, I've seen them in films! Church weddings look so lovely, so short and sweet. We had something very close to that in Bangalore. The pool in Golden Palms is the biggest in Asia and right in its centre is something like an island. There's a bridge extending from there to the edge of the pool. The bridge acted like an aisle for us. We walked down the entire stretch, went to the centre of the pool, stood there, took our vows and signed the register. It was even better than a church wedding. It was so special, so different!"

The best things in life are understated. Without making loud noises, the Khans and the Roshans unfussily brought together the two communities. Rakesh has never been traditionally religious while Sanjay too has also never lingered on the communal.

Have you checked out: Hrithik-Suzanne: Wedding of the year!

"On the contrary," observes Rakesh pertinently remarks, "when the couple exchanged rings, J Omji recited the Gayatri mantra and Sanjay also chanted the mantra along with him. In fact he could say it better than us."

"The film industry is secular," observes Rakesh Roshan. "I wonder if it has struck anyone that I made a film called Karan Arjun with two Khans in the title roles!"

Despite the communally polarised viewpoints about the underworld diktats to Hrithik, Rakesh Roshan steadfastly refuses to buy the Hindu boy versus the Khan guys theory. There was the uneasy rumour that Rakesh Roshan had been shot at in January 2000 because the underworld had been upset that the Roshan boy had upset the box office stakes of the ruling Khan trio. "If that were true, then Hrithik played a Muslim in both Fiza and Mission Kashmir and the Hindus should've been upset!" laughs Hrithik's father, sweeping the argument out of his horizon.

Coming back to the personal front, Rakesh was always clear that Hrithik and Suzanne would have the freedom to work out their merger without intrusion.

And Hrithik believes there's no question of trying to change Suzanne in any way. The Roshans have always had havans on special occasions "which Suzanne enjoys as much as any of us or even more," Hrithik reports. "In fact she was after my life to visit Vaishnodevi after marriage. She was dying to go there and we got the opportunity only this July. We both walked up all the way and walked down again. We didn't sit on the horse at all. That was quite a feat and it was so much fun!"

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"Of course Suzanne continues to be whatever she has always been," echoes Rakesh to whom conversion wasn't an option. "When it didn't occur even to my father-in-law and he accepted it so instantly, why would such things strike any of us?" questions Rakesh. "I don't know much about what she practises. But I've seen her light a diya in the morning. And I know she observes karva chauth!"

In keeping with his belief that Hrithik and Suzanne should be left alone to lead their lives as they'd like to, Rakesh Roshan had once cracked. "Ideally, they can run the house and manage everything, while we'd be like paying guests!"

As it turns out, that's not quite the arrangements the Roshans have ultimately designed for themselves. The family has two large floors coming up in a new building and it'll be to each (a floor of) his own!

Excerpted from Colas, Cars & Communal Harmony by Bharathi S Pradhan, Rs 195, India Book Distributors, with the author's permission.

Part I: 'She's a Muslim'