So, it’s not exactly shaadi season, but if there has to be a wedding of the non-season, Kapil Sibal’s younger son Akhil tying the knot with Delhi-based Shivani Gokhale wins the title hands down for size as well as scale.
The newly elected Chandni Chowk MP and Minister for Science, Technology and Ocean Development recreated the ambience of the Chandni Chowk bazaar at the Marriott at a sangeet ceremony that saw a rare performance by Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj and vocalist Rita Ganguly. And an equally rare photo op of Arun Jaitley greeting Sibal senior with a warm bear hug.
The evening was hosted by Kapil’s elder son, Amit (all set to tie the knot himself later this year) with the set and ambience created by Rajeev Sethi. Akhil has been Rajeev’s lawyer for his Red Fort case filed against Jagmohan’s restoration efforts. And to score a point, Sethi went ahead and recreated the screen of justice, one of the Fort’s most spectacular pieces, now damaged by the restoration.
That of course was only one of the six functions held to celebrate the wedding. Determined to keep up with the Sibals, the Gokhales organised a qawaali evening by the Nizam brothers, a mehndi function (hosted by Shivani’s uncle, former MP Pinaki Misra) and of course the wedding itself at the Ashoka Hotel. Akhil’s friend Arun Ahuja threw a party at the Mirage where Rohit Bal did his usual exhibitionist thing. And the curtains were finally brought down by the Sibals themselves at a wedding reception at the Maurya where chef Imtiaz seemed determined to prove what fine dining was all about.
Who was there? Rahul Gandhi made a low key appearance at the wedding. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stayed for dinner, while Sonia Gandhi skipped the wedding but made it to the reception. Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar were there for both.
The Congress party, expectedly, turned out in full strength — from P. Chidambaram, Margaret Alva, Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid and Jayanthi Natarajan to Murli Bhandare (he’s Shivani’s uncle) while P3P MPs Subbirami Reddy and Jay Panda were not about to lose a photo op. Raian and Manik Karanjawala were prominent among the lawyers. Suhel Seth played up his new fat cat role with a large cigar and Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel made a late appearance at the reception looking reasonably over-worked.
Akhil and Shivani are now off to Bali for a longish honeymoon. Kapil is headed back to Parliament. Until the next family wedding. Stay tuned.
