There was a time when it was speculated that then cricketer Imran Khan and one of the finest actresses of Indian cinema, Rekha, were soon to get married, a 1985 newspaper clipping making the rounds on social media has revealed.
“Pakistan’s ace fast bowler Imran Khan and India’s screen glamour girl Rekha are to be married soon,” read a report in The Star citing an Indian film journal.
It further said, “According to the journal’s report, Imran Khan stayed almost the whole of April in Bombay. During this period, he and Rekha were seen enjoying each other’s company on the sea beach, the residence of Premi Shivar Godraj and at night clubs.”
The journal attributed a statement to Rekha’s mother in which she opined that the man best suited as life partner to her daughter could not be other than Irman Khan.
“She had gone to Delhi and consulted a najoomi [astrologer] if Imran could be an ideal suiter to her daughter. No one knows what the najoomi had said but Rekha’s mother was convinced that Imran could be a welcome addition to her family.”
According to a piece carried by Dawn in 2013, people linked Imran Khan to Bollywood actress Zeenat Aman and Rekha who seemed more eastern for the country’s most eligible bachelor instead of his former wife Jemima Goldsmith.
“After all, it was Rekha who had termed Raj Babbar as ‘side se dekho to bilkul Imran Khan’ in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Jhooti, right?”
Nonetheless, Imran and Jemima tied the knot in 1995 and they stayed together for nine years, during which he fathered two sons with her. The fairytale marriage may have ended but Imran is still on friendly terms with the mother of his children, who constantly supports his views on social media.
After Jemima and his second wife, journalist Reham Khan, now-Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan Imran is currently married to Bushra Bibi.
Throwing light on the highly controversial Indian (and Pakistani) wedding and matchmaking culture, a new Netflix original reality series has stirred a debate online and received mixed reviews about the toxicity ingrained in the country’s age-old process of finding a life partner. The show is currently trending at number four on Netflix Pakistan.
The eight-part series Indian Matchmaking premiered on Netflix on Thursday and is currently among its top-ranked India shows. It features Sima Taparia, a real-life matchmaker from Mumbai, who offers her services to families within India and abroad. As the show gains traction, the one question which is crossing everyone’s mind is ‘Who really in Sima Taparia’?
In a recent interview, Taparia, who hails from a small town of Gulbarga in Karnataka, opened up about herself and revealed that she always wanted to be famous.
“I always had great ambition and wanted to make something of myself so people far and wide would know my name,” she says.
However, her marriage was arranged when she was just 19 and because her in-laws were from an orthodox family of Marwaris, she never really got a chance to work on her dreams.
But as fate would have had it, the small-town girl has become a sensation ever since her series streamed on Netflix.
On how she ended up in this business, Taparia said that she considers herself a natural born matchmaker.
“I am an extrovert and so I am very social and I love meeting new people, talking to them and finding out little details that I lock away in my brain,” says the 57-year-old.
“When people come to me saying they have a son, daughter, nephew, niece or a grandchild who is looking to get married, I immediately start thinking of all the people I know of who could be a good match,” she explains, adding that she is always mentally matching people. “I have found matches for people when I was on vacation in Zermatt and in Interlaken and even when we were in the Canadian Rockies, I was on duty matching people up. Hell, I have even matched people up while waiting at the luggage carousel at Mumbai airport.”
Ever since Taparia set up her matchmaking bureau ‘Suitable Rishta’, based out of her apartment in the midtown Mumbai neighbourhood of Worli, she has brought hundreds of couples together in India as well as in diaspora communities around the world.
Taparia follows a tried and tested approach that she has found success with. “I go and meet the boy and the family, see what their home is like, where they work, where they have been to school,” she explains. It’s not just the information the family provides but unsaid details she has learned to pick up over the years.
“This helps me assess their lifestyles so I can recommend a match that is on an even keel. This is where Tinder, Bumble and Shaadi.com can’t compete. I get to the bottom of things, finding out all the inside stories, the family’s values and other such details you would never get from looking at a person’s online profile,” says Taparia.
She further shared that she only works with “high-profile clients”.
“In India when I meet clients they usually have a working wedding budget in mind. So based on that golden number, I quote my price that I charge as a lump sum,” said the match-maker.
Following the series’ success, Taparia’s phone has not stopped ringing.
“Now young people who have seen the series have been getting in touch with me from all around the world and people in India are asking their parents to get in touch with me to find them partners like Nadia and Aparna,” she says.
Netflix’s ‘Indian Matchmaking’ divides the internet
Meanwhile, the show has the internet divided. The show has become a subject of memes and jokes, and criticism, on how individuals and their parents are picky and have a long list of demands that centre around factors like caste, height or skin colour.
The show “makes very clear how regressive Indian communities can be. Where sexism, casteism, and classism are a prevalent part of the process of finding a life partner,” wrote Twitter user Maunika Gowardhan.
Thousands of Twitter and Instagram posts echo that view. “The show is simply holding a mirror to the ugly society we are a part of,” Vishaka George, another Twitter user, wrote.
Created by Oscar-nominated director Smriti Mundhra, the show focuses on matchmaker Taparia’s visits to the homes of families who need her assistance. After hearing their demands, she presents résumés of prospective matches and then arranges meetings between them.
“The two families have their reputation and many millions of dollars at stake. So the parents guide their children,” Taparia says at one point in the show, referring to some of her wealthier clients.
In the first episode titled Slim, Trim and Educated, an Indian mother tells Taparia her son is getting a lot of marriage proposals but in most cases, the prospective bride’s education or height was not ideal.
Just as Taparia says: “So you want a smart, outgoing, height …” the mother interjects, “I won’t even consider (a girl) below 5 feet 3 inches.”
Some have praised the show for its honesty and treating its subjects respectfully.
“The hate against it is, frankly, baffling … Indian Matchmaking is well on its way to becoming a cultural phenomenon,” a column in the Mint newspaper said.
Earlier on Feb 11, a groom was manhandled over contracting third marriage in Karachi without the consent of his first two wives. The groom named Asif was subjected to torture by his first wife and her family in an ongoing Valima reception of his third marriage in Karachi.
It appears that celebrity weddings are undeterred by the ongoing pandemic because ever since the country went into lockdown, at least three celebrity weddings have taken place: Nimra Khan, Agha Ali and Hina Altaf and most recently model Faryal Mehmood and Daniyal Raheal, who is Simi Raheal’s son and Mehreen Raheal’s brother.
The two got married in a simple and intimate ceremony with only their close family present. Daniyal announced their wedding on social media and said that the couple drove to Lahore so that they could get married in the presence of their family.
He shared that “everything was perfect. Except it was not” because Faryal’s entire family was in the States and couldn’t be part of the celebrations in person. Despite the setback, his family managed to “pull together a day that will forever warm the cockles of my heart”.
While there are limited pictures from the event, check out a few of them below, as well as of Faryal enjoying her first Eid as a newlywed.
The groom’s mother and sister
Daniyal’s mother Seemi Raheal also expressed her excitement on social media and welcomed her new bahu.
Model turned actor Amna Ilyas, who won critical acclaim for her role in Baaji, is getting married and she wants Aamir Liaquat to officiate her wedding. The actor made the revelations during her appearance on Liaquat’s game show Jeeway Pakistan.
After announcing that Ilyas has won the game, Liaquat cheekily added that she should now get married.
In response, Amna said, “Haan aap hee parhwayen gay nikkah (You will officiate the marriage).”
When Liaquat asked Amna who her to-be husband is, Amna said that she’ll tell him in due time.
From Aamir’s conversation, it was evident that he knew who Amna’s special someone is because he then asked, “Do you guys work together?” To this Amna said that they do. Amna also shared that their families are on board with everything.
The model was also spotted sporting an engagement ring during her appearance on the show, though she kept switching it around her fingers.
Meanwhile, it is being speculated that Amna’s to-be husband is photographer Ayaz Anis Khan. Amna has always been very low-key about her private life and does not share much about it. Her last film Baaji, in which she shared the screen with Meera and Osman Khalid Butt was a hit. She was set to be part of Haseena Moin’s stage play Ankahi, but due to the coronavirus lockdown, the play was postponed.
Watch from 01:05:30 to see her talk about her upcoming nuptials:
Hira Mani and Salman Saqib Shaikh’s marriage has turned twelve.
Hira wished her husband with an old picture of the two writing, “Mubarak hou aaj humain poorey 12 saal hogaye hain (Congratulations, we have completed twelve years together).”
She further wrote, “Bohat shukriya mujhe itna bardasht kerne ka…aur aglay 12 sou saal aur bardasht kerne kay liye hifazati bundh achi tarha bandhlou kion kay parwaz urne main bus kuch hi dair baaki hai (Thank you for bearing me and get ready for the next 1200 years because the flight is just about to take off).”
In response to Hira’s post, Mani commented that it doesn’t feel like so much timed has passed adding that the anniversary will have to be celebrated without a cake this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hira and Mani tied the knot in 2008. The couple has two sons together. In an interview with Samina Peerzada, Hira had revealed that she had a big crush on Mani while she was in college and met him through a friend who was dating Mani at the time.
“I was his biggest fan in college. We met through a mutual friend, they were dating at that time and I was also engaged to my banker fiancé,” she said.
Hira added that she stole Mani’s number from their mutual friend’s phone and got in touch with him further revealing that she started talking to him day and night cheating on her fiancé.
Praising her husband, Hira said that he is the one who changed her entire life and fulfilled her every dream.
A groom was beaten over contracting third marriage in Karachi without the consent of his first two wives.
As per reports, a groom named Asif was subjected to torture by his first wife and her family at the valima reception of his third marriage in Karachi.
Failing to convince his first wife and her family, Asif ran to the police station to save his life and when he was coming out of the police station, his in-laws attacked him again. Seeing the media on the spot, the groom ran from the spot and saved his life by taking shelter beneath the truck.
“Asif has already two wives and now he has contracted the third marriage without any consent from them”, said Asif’s first wife.
One of the orphans at Darul Aman, who had accused ministers and government officials of “misusing girls living in the shelter home to fulfil their demands”, has been found dead under mysterious circumstances.
According to Afshan Latif — a former superintendent of the state-run shelter — the deceased, Iqra Kainat, has been murdered by those who wanted to protect the perpetrators of sexual abuse of the orphan girls.
In a series of videos that had earlier gone viral, Latif had said that she was being threatened for disclosing what the orphans at the shelter were being subjected to.
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar had also taken notice of the allegations after the former Darul Aman official had claimed that she was appointed in April 2019 and her predecessor used to bring strangers (men) inside the shelter late at night.
However, even after her appointment, Latif had alleged that illegal practices continued at the centre. In this regard, she had filed a complaint against certain high-ups for pressuring Latif to marry underage girls to high-ranking officials.
The ages of the destitute girls were between 15 to 17 years-old, and they were forcefully married off to favoured bureaucrats and a provincial minister, Latif alleged in her video message.
In reference to authorities and those involved, she had said that they were trying to wipe out evidence and requested people to spread her message. Latif had added that she did not know what was to happen to her and where she would be taken now.
A Hindu couple in Kayamkulam Town in India’s Kerala state tied the knot in the most unusual of places.
The couple, Sarath Sasi and Anju Ashok, held their wedding at the Cheravally Muslim Jamaath mosque in Kerala, where a Hindu priest oversaw the ceremonies and solemnised the marriage according to Hindu rituals.
According to Indian media, the mosque committee had set up and decorated the mandap — a covered structure with pillars under which the main Hindu wedding ceremonies and rituals take place. Members of both the religious communities turned up in large numbers to attend the event.
As per reports, the bride’s mother, on a neighbour’s advice, had approached the mosque to host her daughter’s wedding due to financial constraints.
“She came to my house seeking help for conducting the marriage. She gave a letter, which I presented to the Jamaath committee. We decided to help the family conduct the marriage,” Nujumudeen Alummoottil, secretary of Cheravally Muslim Jamaat Committee told Indian news agency ANI.
The mosque committee not only helped provide a venue for the event but also gifted the couple 10 gold souvenirs and 200,000 Indian Rupees, and took care of other wedding expenses.
The committee also served vegetarian meals to around 1,000 guests at the wedding.
The family added that they were very thankful to the Jamaath committee for hosting their wedding.
Model and activist Eman Suleman got married to beau Syed Jamil Haider Rizvi in a simple nikkah ceremony. Eman took to Instagram to share that she and her husband are now mehrams.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B65Z_5xnSUe/
Eman’s friends and colleagues including Adnan Malik and Meesha Shafi congratulated the model on her marriage.
Fellow model Zara Peerzada shared pictures of the newlyweds on her social media. Eman looked radiant and fresh-faced with minimum makeup in a yellow and red gota dress. The event was a lowkey affair with only close family and friends present.
Eman had announced her engagement about a month back, in a rather humorous social media post in which she threw shade at Hamza Ali Abbasi and his marriage announcement.
