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Journos in a Hurley burley
10/03/2007 12:02 - (SA)
Jodhpur, India - British actress Elizabeth Hurley and her Indian groom Arun Nayar were set to leave Jodhpur on Saturday after their "Big Fat Indian Wedding" ended in a scrap with journalists.
At least 10 journalists suffered cuts and bruises as police and security guards clashed on Friday with paparazzi trying to snap the marathon event, dubbed the "big fat Indian wedding" by local media, an AFP photographer said.
"The great wedding ends in chaos," the Hindustan Times daily newspaper trumpeted in a headline on Saturday.
The dust-up came outside the ancient sheer-walled Meherangarh, literally "Majestic Fort," where the couple held a lavish wedding feast following their traditional Hindu marriage at the hilltop Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur.
"The security guards and police were punching and shoving the journalists. At least 10 suffered bruises and cuts," said AFP photographer R Raveendran, who was nursing a bleeding thumb.
"The police and security people were also roughing up locals, who started shouting 'Go home Liz'," Raveendran said. Afterwards a security representative of the couple apologised to the journalists, he said.
Exclusive rights to UK tabloid
Exclusive media rights were sold to British celebrity magazine Hello! for a sum reported to cover the seven-figure cost of the nuptials, which capped three days of non-stop partying in the desert state.
The couple was only able to take four turns around a ritual sacred wedding fire instead of the customary seven because their clothes kept getting entangled, the Times of India reported.
Hurley was dressed in a traditional Indian sari designed by the so-called "bad boy" of Indian fashion, Rohit Bal. She had her hands painted in intricate henna designs.
The couple, who held a set of pre-wedding parties in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, were reportedly planning to head back to the city for post-wedding celebrations.
The guests, numbering around 250, were flown into this city of palaces aboard seven chartered flights, airport officials said.
- AFP
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South Africa
