Politicians, actors and some members of royal families were in the guest list.
By Sreejith Vallikunnu
In an extravagant wedding, NRI businessman Ravi Pillai’s daughter Dr. Arathi Pillai married Dr. Adithya Vishnu at the Asramam ground in Kollam, Kerala, on Thursday.
The wedding was held in a specially built palace/pandal designed by Sabu Cyril, the art director of the super hit movie Baahubali. According to reports, Sabu’s brief was to recreate Rajasthan palaces spread across the 8-acres of ground. About 2000 people worked for 75 days to build the pandal, which cost around Rs 20 crores itself. Altogether, the wedding cost around Rs. 55 crores, said reports.
“Various parts for this set were first moulded in clay in Mumbai, and then it was cast in plaster of Paris. It took us about 40 days to assemble the pre-fabricated structures here,” Indiatimes.com quoted Cyril as saying.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, along with his cabinet members were among the political leaders invited for the marriage. Malayalam film stars such as Mohanlal, Mammootty, and business tycoon M.A Yousuf Ali were among the other big names in the guest list, which also had the names of members of the royal families of Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and 42 global leaders, including country heads and global CEOs.
The festivities kick-started with the performance of singer Gayathri’s bhajans, followed by dance performances of actresses Manju Warrier and Sobhana who performed Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam, respectively. A performance by Stephen Devassy was a highlight of the wedding event.
The security detail at the wedding included around 250 policemen and 350 private security guards. A traditional Kerala sadya was served for the guests.
Pillai’s business entity RP Group has a strong presence in Gulf in construction, infrastructure development, mining and education sectors. The group has over 80,000 employees, across 26 companies.
Dr. Adithya is the son of Vinod Nedungadi and Dr Latha Nair.