Horses, elephants star in Hurley's Hindu wedding
White horses, elephants and priests blowing conch horns starred in the Hindu nuptials of actress Elizabeth Hurley, who wrapped up a week of lavish wedding celebrations in India yesterday.
Ms Hurley, 41, her 42-year-old husband, Indian businessman Arun Nayar and their 240 guests enjoyed the kind of pageantry once reserved for maharajahs as they shuttled between palaces and an ancient hilltop fort around the historic city of Jodhpur, in the desert state of Rajasthan.
Mr Nayar trotted down the aisle on a white horse accompanied by caparisoned elephants and camels at the climax of the wedding yesterday evening.
Ms Hurley, who has been staying at the grand, sandstone Umaid Bhawan Palace, sported elaborate henna tattoos after she and her female guests took part in a traditional mehendi ceremony.
On Thursday, Ms Hurley and Mr Nayar went to Nagaur Fort, about 130 km outside the city, for a musical ceremony that included qawwali, or devotional hymns performed by Sufi Muslims.
There was a wedding caravan involving 12 horses and 60 camel carts and fireworks in the evening, a Jodhpur newspaper reported.
Mr Nayar wore a diamond-encrusted sherwani, which is a traditional Indian jacket, it added.
After a night's sleep in luxury tents, the party returned to Umaid Bhawan yesterday for the Hindu wedding.
Then they headed to the city's massive Meherangarh Fort overlooking the blue-painted city to feast on Jodhpur's rich, buttery cuisine, accompanied by traditional Rajasthani singers and dancers and showers of flower petals.
The guests dined on obscure Indian cuisine from Rajasthan, including wheat dumplings mixed into a soup of savoury lentils and food wrapped in leaves and cooked by embers while buried in the earth.
Indian designer Rohit Bal said he had designed many of the clothes being worn by the couple, who have been partying non-stop since their civil marriage last week at a castle in England.
Their two-night stopover in Mumbai was immersed in controversy after authorities tore down part of a venue built to host the wedding party because it infringed on a popular beach.
At Nagaur Fort, police beat some curious local onlookers with sticks, according to witnesses.
Ms Hurley split with actor Hugh Grant in 2000, ending a 13-year relationship that survived Mr Grant's well-publicised encounter with a prostitute. In 2002, she had a son with US film producer Steve Bing, but brought the child up as a single mother.
She met Mr Nayar, a jetset businessman and a friend of Bollywood film stars, shortly after her son was born. Ms Hurley and Mr Nayar had a civil wedding last week at an English castle.
Tom Ford, a designer and former director of the Gucci fashion house, Janet Street-Porter, a British journalist and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta were some of the best-known guests.
'Who's Liz Hurley?' ask locals in Indian city
"Is it this old woman who's getting married?" asked Kastury Ghosh, a bridal shop manager in the west Indian city of Jodhpur, as she peered over her glasses at a picture of Elizabeth Hurley.
"She is the oldest bride Jodhpur has ever seen," Ghosh said of the 41-year-old actress.
"This is how they dress in the West, isn't it?" she added, commenting on the infamous Versace gown held together with safety pins worn by Ms Hurley at a 1994 film premiere, which shows off her breasts in a way that would not be possible in a sari.
The residents of Jodhpur were not aware of Elizabeth Hurley's existence until she decided to take over the grand palace on a hill overlooking this dusty, chaotic city on Wednesday for three days to celebrate her marriage to Indian businessman Arun Nayar.
But a consensus has quickly formed among locals in the last few days: She is beautiful, but isn't she a bit old to be an Indian bride? And what is she famous for?
Indian women are commonly married off in their teens to a man of their parents' choosing, and are a cause of despair if they are still a spinster at 30.
India also has its own parallel universe of celebrities, mainly from the massive Bollywood entertainment industry and most of whom are unrecognisable to even the most avid reader of Western celebrity tabloids. Likewise, only the biggest Western stars seep into the Indian consciousness.
"Can you tell me even a single hit movie she's been in?" asked one of the hotel staff looking after Ms Hurley for the next few days, who wanted his name withheld for his job's sake.
"Is she an artist?" wondered a man in a city camera shop when asked if he knew of Hurley.
Ms Hurley is best known as a model, for once being the partner of British actor Hugh Grant and for performances in movies such as Bedazzled, for which she often receives unflattering reviews.
Rathi Raxit, who owns an electrical store in the city, said he was not fond of English movies. "I prefer comedy Hindi movies," he explained, echoing a widespread preference here.
Locals are indeed excited about a big celebrity wedding at the palace, but not Ms Hurley's nuptials.
Bollywood's hottest couple, actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, had looked at the Umaid Bhawan Palace as a possible venue for their wedding, according to media reports.
Like Ms Hurley, 33-year-old Rai, a former Miss World, has also raised eyebrows for being older than her fiance.
But even if India is only just getting to know Ms Hurley, she may endear herself with locals who understand the need for lavish, attention-grabbing wedding celebrations.
Marriage remains a fundamental rite of passage and symbol of a family's status in India. Even the humblest family will save up to make sure their children are paraded regally around the neighbourhood by lantern-bearers and a brass band.
In India's fiercely hierarchical society, most people are expected to marry a partner from the same background, caste and religion, so Mr Nayar's marriage to a white, non-Indian and non-Hindu woman has also attracted curious comment.
"An Anglo-Indian wedding has never happened here before," said Durgsingh Rathort, another bridal shop worker.
But no one thought to criticise the arrangement - in India, the rich can make their own rules.
White horses, elephants and priests blowing conch horns starred in the Hindu nuptials of actress Elizabeth Hurley, who wrapped up a week of lavish wedding celebrations in India yesterday.Ms Hurley, 41, her 42-year-old husband, Indian businessman Arun Nayar and their 240 guests enjoyed the kind of pageantry once reserved for maharajahs as they shuttled between palaces and an ancient hilltop fort around the historic city of Jodhpur, in the desert state of Rajasthan.
Mr Nayar trotted down the aisle on a white horse accompanied by caparisoned elephants and camels at the climax of the wedding yesterday evening.
Ms Hurley, who has been staying at the grand, sandstone Umaid Bhawan Palace, sported elaborate henna tattoos after she and her female guests took part in a traditional mehendi ceremony.
On Thursday, Ms Hurley and Mr Nayar went to Nagaur Fort, about 130 km outside the city, for a musical ceremony that included qawwali, or devotional hymns performed by Sufi Muslims.
There was a wedding caravan involving 12 horses and 60 camel carts and fireworks in the evening, a Jodhpur newspaper reported.
Mr Nayar wore a diamond-encrusted sherwani, which is a traditional Indian jacket, it added.
After a night's sleep in luxury tents, the party returned to Umaid Bhawan yesterday for the Hindu wedding.
Then they headed to the city's massive Meherangarh Fort overlooking the blue-painted city to feast on Jodhpur's rich, buttery cuisine, accompanied by traditional Rajasthani singers and dancers and showers of flower petals.
The guests dined on obscure Indian cuisine from Rajasthan, including wheat dumplings mixed into a soup of savoury lentils and food wrapped in leaves and cooked by embers while buried in the earth.
Indian designer Rohit Bal said he had designed many of the clothes being worn by the couple, who have been partying non-stop since their civil marriage last week at a castle in England.
Their two-night stopover in Mumbai was immersed in controversy after authorities tore down part of a venue built to host the wedding party because it infringed on a popular beach.
At Nagaur Fort, police beat some curious local onlookers with sticks, according to witnesses.
Ms Hurley split with actor Hugh Grant in 2000, ending a 13-year relationship that survived Mr Grant's well-publicised encounter with a prostitute. In 2002, she had a son with US film producer Steve Bing, but brought the child up as a single mother.
She met Mr Nayar, a jetset businessman and a friend of Bollywood film stars, shortly after her son was born. Ms Hurley and Mr Nayar had a civil wedding last week at an English castle.
Tom Ford, a designer and former director of the Gucci fashion house, Janet Street-Porter, a British journalist and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta were some of the best-known guests.
'Who's Liz Hurley?' ask locals in Indian city
"Is it this old woman who's getting married?" asked Kastury Ghosh, a bridal shop manager in the west Indian city of Jodhpur, as she peered over her glasses at a picture of Elizabeth Hurley."She is the oldest bride Jodhpur has ever seen," Ghosh said of the 41-year-old actress.
"This is how they dress in the West, isn't it?" she added, commenting on the infamous Versace gown held together with safety pins worn by Ms Hurley at a 1994 film premiere, which shows off her breasts in a way that would not be possible in a sari.
The residents of Jodhpur were not aware of Elizabeth Hurley's existence until she decided to take over the grand palace on a hill overlooking this dusty, chaotic city on Wednesday for three days to celebrate her marriage to Indian businessman Arun Nayar.
But a consensus has quickly formed among locals in the last few days: She is beautiful, but isn't she a bit old to be an Indian bride? And what is she famous for?
Indian women are commonly married off in their teens to a man of their parents' choosing, and are a cause of despair if they are still a spinster at 30.
India also has its own parallel universe of celebrities, mainly from the massive Bollywood entertainment industry and most of whom are unrecognisable to even the most avid reader of Western celebrity tabloids. Likewise, only the biggest Western stars seep into the Indian consciousness.
"Can you tell me even a single hit movie she's been in?" asked one of the hotel staff looking after Ms Hurley for the next few days, who wanted his name withheld for his job's sake.
"Is she an artist?" wondered a man in a city camera shop when asked if he knew of Hurley.
Ms Hurley is best known as a model, for once being the partner of British actor Hugh Grant and for performances in movies such as Bedazzled, for which she often receives unflattering reviews.
Rathi Raxit, who owns an electrical store in the city, said he was not fond of English movies. "I prefer comedy Hindi movies," he explained, echoing a widespread preference here.
Locals are indeed excited about a big celebrity wedding at the palace, but not Ms Hurley's nuptials.
Bollywood's hottest couple, actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, had looked at the Umaid Bhawan Palace as a possible venue for their wedding, according to media reports.
Like Ms Hurley, 33-year-old Rai, a former Miss World, has also raised eyebrows for being older than her fiance.
But even if India is only just getting to know Ms Hurley, she may endear herself with locals who understand the need for lavish, attention-grabbing wedding celebrations.
Marriage remains a fundamental rite of passage and symbol of a family's status in India. Even the humblest family will save up to make sure their children are paraded regally around the neighbourhood by lantern-bearers and a brass band.
In India's fiercely hierarchical society, most people are expected to marry a partner from the same background, caste and religion, so Mr Nayar's marriage to a white, non-Indian and non-Hindu woman has also attracted curious comment.
"An Anglo-Indian wedding has never happened here before," said Durgsingh Rathort, another bridal shop worker.
But no one thought to criticise the arrangement - in India, the rich can make their own rules.