When Hindu author Kavita Ramdya fell in love with a Muslim
man, a bi-religious wedding was not all that followed. Ramdya’s BOOK,
“Bollywood Weddings: Dating, Engagement and Marriage in Hindu America” just hit
bookstore shelves. Since she had a wedding that incorporated not only Hindu but
also Muslim and Western traditions (she had a ceremony in a flowing white
gown), Ramdya was inspired to find out why having a traditional Hindu wedding
is so important for her young Hindu friends in the States–especially when those
traditions aren’t necessarily historical, they’re cinematic.
Ramdya found that Bollywood –with its glitzy dance sequences
and soap-opera-like plots–is the most mainstream form of media that
Indian-American Hindus have to draw from in educating themselves about India
and the culture and the traditions that are important to their parents. That is
why Bollywood films are so influential in how young Hindus in AMERICA conceive
of India, its culture and rituals like the Hindu wedding ceremony.
Walk into most Indian weddings in the U.S. today and you’ll
find at least 400 people dressed in Bombay’s sexiest sari fashions, a great
number of flowers to COVER the mandap (or the place where the ceremony
happens), at least one giant ice sculpture shaped to look like a Hindu God
and–in a favorite practice–the groom entering the area on a white horse, all
his friends and family in tow.
In certain parts of India, there is a tradition of a groom
from a neighboring VILLAGEriding to the bride’s house on a horse. But this
tradition is fairly outdated, and Bollywood has revived it to evoke images of
Prince Charming and Cinderella. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little
showmanship in weddings.
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