Another big fat Indian wedding rocks Italy
LONDON: Rohan Mehta, the son of Dubai-based petroleum magnate Yogesh “Yogi” Mehta, wed Roshni in a Bollywood-style wedding in Florence in another example of the Indian mega-rich opting for sylvan European locations to marry off their children.
The three-day extravaganza featured nearly 500 guests from India and elsewhere, and elaborate events such as a ‘mehndi’ and a ‘sangeet’ at different locations in Florence. Luxury hotels were booked for the event that made much news in the local press. The only “irritant” – if it can be called that – was the local council refusing permission for the groom to arrive at the wedding
venue on an elephant, citing health and safety reasons. The reception was held in the grand estate of Villa Le Corti in San Casciano. La Nazione, a leading local newspaper, called it a “stellar wedding” that “moves the GDP of Florence”. Wedding planners from India and Italy were involved in preparations, it reported.
The wedding – called a “magical RORO wedding” by Yogesh Mehta after the names of the couple – cost 20 million Euros, according to the newspaper. Mehta is the CEO of chemicals distribution major Petrochem Middle East. The last such mega Indian wedding took place in Budapest in August, when Akhil Paul, the grandson of prominent London-based industrialist Swraj Paul, tied the knot with his Pakistan-origin fiancée Bisma Mowjee over three days.
In September last year, Ritika Agarwal, the daughter of mining magnate Pramod Agarwal, married Rohan Mehta, the son of Arun Mehta, at Fasano in south Italy in a lavish, Bollywoodstyle wedding that included chefs from India, elephants from France and local women dressed in saris.
Steel baron Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter Vanisha’s wedding to Amit Bhatia was held in France in 2004, and his niece Shrishti married Gulraj Behl in Barcelona in December 2013.