Mumbai Mirror Bureau (July 22, 2014)

It's not unusual for a star to turn up fashionably late for a shoot but when she's just-married and coming straight from a doctor's appointment, the antenna immediately perks up.

Of course, Rani Mukerji, dressed in an all-enveloping Anarkali, insisted that the check-up was for a recent bout of flu. But there were no signs of the viral bug. Instead, Mrs Chopra was glowing and the few extra kilos she seems to have put on post her hush-hush wedding, were sitting comfortably on her petite frame. Marital bliss? For sure. A visit from the stork? Unsure!

The Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa trio of judges Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit and Remo D'Souza- was particularly solicitous towards their special guest. Rani needed help climbing the stairs and Madhuri lent a helping hand. A cushion was called for so that the chair did not hurt Rani's back. When the cameras were trained on her, Rani mostly offered her side profile, her dupatta hiding a lot of her from view.

Even though she was under the weather, Rani was a true pro when it was time for action. When one of the contestants, Mallishka Mendonca, requested some "ada" and Karan demanded a performance of Kabhi neem neem kabhi shahad shahad from Yuva, she readily obliged. Rani even did a quick twirl to the tune and that's when Madhuri divulged a little secret: This was the song the bride had sung for her Adi (Aditya Chopra) at their May wedding.

Rani blushed crimson and Karan, one of the select guests at her Florence wedding, piped up to let his buddy know that he had not broken his promise to keep the details of the nuptials a secret. "Adi, please don't blame me for this, I did not say anything. It was Rani who told Madhuri. She is the culprit, not me," he beseeched, admitting that he feared Aditya more than his own parents.

Hmmm, some secrets revealed, but one still under wraps. Is there good news in store? We'll know in a few months more!

Upala KBR (DNA; May 20, 2014)

Aditya Chopra makes romantic films, but prefers not to display romance in his personal life. However, he pulled out all the stops for his wedding and gave his bride Rani Mukerji the celebrations that she always dreamt of. The first time around the producer had a big fat Punjabi wedding, but this time it was a Bengali shaadi all the way.

The wedding was planned in Italy but it was entirely a traditional Indian one. Says a source, “Adi planned his wedding with as much precision as he does his films. He knew that his bride and her family wanted a traditional Bengali wedding, and that’s what he gave them. So all rituals were completely Bengali, including the blowing of conch shells, ululation, and where the brother takes his sister on a piri (a wooden seat) around the fire. Before the ceremony started, Krishna (the bride’s mother) received Adi into the family with the bor-boron ceremony.”

Adi even flew down a pundit to Italy and wore the traditional dhoti-kurta and topor (white conical headgear traditionally worn by grooms). Rani wore a similar headgear called mukut. Both Adi and Rani’s wedding clothes were designed by Sabyasachi. Rani wore a traditional red and zari Benarasi silk sari. Rani even had white and red dots on her forehead with a big red bindi in the centre as Bengali brides wear.

Adi and Rani did the saat paak where the bride encircles the groom seven times, still sitting on the piri covering her face with paan (betel leaves). “The couple even had shubho drishti, when the bride finally puts down the leaves and their eyes meet. No Bengali wedding is complete without the ululation and blowing of conch shells and Rani’s wedding had that too. Rani wore aaltaa (red dye) on her feet as a Bengali bride is supposed to wear that on her palms and feet.”

DNA (May 3, 2014)

The Rani Mukerji-Aditya Chopra wedding has upset one person the most: Designer Manish Malhotra. The man who gave Rani one of the most significant makeovers in Bollywood wasn’t invited to her wedding in Italy while Rani’s BFF designer friend Sabyasachi was invited and that too as a guest. Also, Sabya did clothes for some of the wedding functions for both the bride and the groom. Style observers would vouch that it was Manish who transformed Rani into a chic swan from an ugly duckling in Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998. However, over the years, she’s gravitated towards Sabya, his brand of aesthetic and mutual love for macher-jhol.

It’s a well known fact that Sabya and Rani — both Bongs — bond like a house on fire. He’s styled Rani for many appearances and for editorial shoots. In fact, the ultra-reclusive actress has been his muse several times channeling the Kolkata chromosome vibe his collections radiate and also gracing the front row at his shows.
But one wonders how she forgot to invite her old good friend Manish Malhotra. Such is life dearies!