The First American wedding I attended

Today I had the privilege of attending one of my ex-colleagues' wedding. This was the first American wedding that I attended. I really enjoyed the experience. I should also give credit to the bride and groom for organizing it so well.

To start with, the wedding invitation was so well designed with the appropriate fonts, good color selection and packaged it well. I knew that this would be a well organized wedding. So today as soon as I entered the hall, I was given a piece of paper with the same color, font and packaging as the wedding card. I wondered whey were they giving me the card again. But actually it was the schedule. It contained the list of events scheduled like Bringing down the mothers, Groom and grooms men entry, Brides maid entry, bride entry (please stand) etc. And once the ceremony started all these happened exactly in the same order without missing a beat. It was almost like the graduation ceremony. The schedule even contained the song they would play for each ceremony. It was so meticulously planned.

oh! I skipped a couple of things. So as soon as I got the schedule card, there was a big metal photo frame where everyone signed on it with a steel pen and there was a box next to it where we were supposed to drop the gift cards or any cash gifts that we brought along. Then I was ushered into the main hall and before I entered the hall there were few ushers standing outside who asked me if I was from the Bride or the groom's side. I said I am from the groom's side and they asked me to sit on the right side. And he asked me to turn off the cellphones.

The actual ceremony lasted for about 30 minutes. Then we were asked to step into an adjoining room where we could have drinks and some appetizer. Then it was announced that everyone should come and see the announcer to find out which table they would be sitting. They had assigned each guest who RSVPd to a table and we were to sit at the assigned table. I believe the groom and the bride made the decision as to who will sit with who. We met a new couple at our table and became friends by the end of the reception.

Once we settled in our assigned tables, the reception started. The 'wedding party' made a grand entry one by one with the cheering crowds. Then the bride and the groom had their first dance to a slow romantic song. Then the bride and the groom danced with their close family members.

Then the best man gave a toast along with others. His speech was funny in parts. Then the bride thanked her family, friends, roommates and some special guests who came from out of the country just to attend this wedding. She became emotional at times. But it was nice. That was her oscar moment. The groom was very brief in his speech.

Then it was time for lunch. It was announced that the wedding party will go first followed by one table at a time. There was a marshall who came to each table and invited them for the lunch. After lunch, they opened the dance floor for everyone and for the next one hour everyone danced to some excellent songs played by the DJ.

Then they had the ritual where the bride will throw the flowers and the bridesmaid catch them and they say whoever catches them will be the next one to get married. I knew about this one as I had seen it many times in the movies. But I did not know that a similar ritual exists for the groom. The groom has to take out the garter that the girl is wearing and toss it in the air to be caught by the single man. He would be the next one to get married.

All the way I was always comparing this wedding to the way weddings happen in India. To start with the whole ceremony was over in 4 hours start to finish including the wait time. I don't think this assigned seating will work in India. People will walk away if you start telling them where they should sit. I should admit that this assigned seating and asking one table at a time to have the food helped the organizers very much. It makes sure there is no stampede at the food table.

The wedding party had the food first. In India, they are the last people to eat as they feel they should allow the guests to eat first. And I thought there was a lot of dancing. Everyone danced. In south India, people don't dance that much but I guess in north India it will be like this. Everyone dances at the wedding.

On the whole I enjoyed the whole experience of the American Wedding.

Agneepath

I was reading in the news the other day that Karan Johar is planning to remake 'Agneepath'. Initially the reports were he wanted to cast Hrithik for the title role and later I heard he wanted to cast Abhishek for that role.

There is a part of me which says some movies and roles should not be reprised. They should be left immortal. Some movies like Sholay, Mughal-e-azam, Agneepath, Deewar, Shakti should not be remade. Where will you find an actor of the caliber of Prithvi Raj Kapoor to play the role of Akbar, where will you find an actor to play the role of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan? Frankly none of the current actors can do justice to that character. Abhishek comes close to it but not exactly.

There is another part of me which says there is nothing wrong in remaking these classics as long as you rewrite the character not just to suit the present times but also to suit the actor playing the character. In Agneepath, Amitabh's character was sketched with him in mind. His walk, style, dialogue everything was tailor made for Amitabh.

So if you want to remake Agneepath and you have Hrithik in mind then rewrite the character with Hrithik's strengths in mind. The new character will not talk like the old one, will not walk like the old one. Then you are doing a justice to the remake. Otherwise you will pick up unnecessary flak and loss of money.

R.I.P. Michael.

I was shocked to read the Breaking news on CNN yesterday that the 'King of Pop' is dead. He was truly the king in terms of his talent and the kind of life he lead. His talent is unparalleled. Actually I did not follow his music during my college days when his albums actually released. But I knew who he was. I started following his music only after coming to U.S. I went back and heard all his famous songs and watched the videos. I have his CD called "Michael Jackson Number Ones". 

I have followed not just his music but also his personal life thru the interviews that Martin Bashir did in 2003 which gave us a glimpse of how the king lives his life. I also watched the movies made on his life. One movie about 'Jackson 5' was 5 hours long. I sat thru the 5 hours to understand his life. 

Like how the legend goes that every so many years the world gets a messiah to liberate the world from ignorance and show us the way. I feel in the music world too we get messiah's every now and then who liberate us from a particular kind of music we are used to hearing and give us a new sound. These people turn things on their head, break all conventions, start a new set of conventions. Every generation had its own musical legend. My grandfather had Beatles, my father had Elvis and I had Michael. 

After all the troubled life as a child unable to come out of his father's shadows, to going thru a series of plastic surgery to kill his old self, to battling the child molestation charges, to his last days where he had to rent a house without being able to afford to live in his own palace, I think it is time for him to rest in peace.