Big fat weddings are India’s soft power abroad, just like Bollywood. Don’t stop this export

Big fat weddings are India’s soft power abroad, just like Bollywood. Don’t stop this export

In his latest Mann Ki Baat episode, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians if it is “necessary” for families to go abroad for weddings. Keep the money in India, he instructs. But the big fat Indian wedding isn’t just a cash cow; it’s one of the country’s biggest soft power exports.

Foreign destinations take weddings to a wider audience. Even Bollywood, India’s other cultural phenomenon, is intrinsically tied to our loud, brash, colourful and unapologetic weddings. And the West is hooked—it can’t get enough of the deep-red lehengas, the over-the-top jewellery and the excess of it all.

The last six posts on Vogue Weddings’ Instagram page are of an Indian wedding that took place in Malibu. “Indian weddings are always glamorous,” reads a comment.

And this glamour is rebranding India’s image. From a land of snake charmers and sages to one where the average family can spend big on Maharaja-sized weddings. Who cares if this isn’t the reality, it’s all about perception anyway.

And a small percentage of big weddings happening outside India is a good price to pay for this makeover.

A cultural export

We might be taking weddings outside, but we’re also taking along with us India’s culture.

There are non-Indians who have been swept into the wedding industry. They have come to learn and appreciate India in a way they wouldn’t have otherwise. One of the many such people is Armenian-Canadian makeup artist Anna Karapetyan. She almost exclusively works on Indian brides and is even an expert saree draper.

The rise of Thailand as a popular destination is directly tied to the recent Indo-Thai film—Congrats, My Ex!—that follows a big fat Indian wedding. It was one of Thailand’s top three searched movies in October. Even Nigeria’s Nollywood has a hit Indian wedding movie, Namaste Wahala. An Indian wedding features in the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston movie Murder Mystery 2. Aniston is even wearing a Tarun Tahiliani lehenga.

Move over austere white church weddings, the ultimate Maharaja-style wedding is the new goal.

And this is the kind of publicity that money just can’t buy.

Easy-to-digest Hinduism

The stereotypical image of an Indian wedding is that of a Hindu wedding. The priest, the fire at the mandap, the saath pheras—all packaged in an aesthetic, easy-to-digest version of Hinduism through the lens of love for a global audience.

Global wedding planners even have pages dedicated to explaining a Hindu wedding, rituals and all.

“There are rarely small ceremonies or intimate Hindu weddings. It goes against a lot of the philosophies of the ceremony, so you can expect a big affair,” reads one such website.

Another offers advice to guests on Indian wedding etiquette. It runs them through the significance of the Ganesh puja, the mehendi ceremony, and the saptapadi.

Going back to the Malibu wedding on Vogue, the article details the Sikh-Hindu couple’s havan and jagrata, the five Hindu priests that conducted the ceremony, and the Anand Karaj (the Sikh marriage ceremony).

All this is exactly the kind of coverage of Hinduism that fits the BJP’s religious push. So it’s curious why Modi is still questioning whether it’s necessary.

Take local global

Forget soft power, let’s get back to the economy. A recent article in The Financial Express called the upcoming wedding season “one of the most extravagant and glitzy”.

“According to the Confederation of All India Traders 3.5 million weddings will be solemnised between November 23 and December 15, bringing an estimated business of Rs 4.25 trillion this wedding season,” the article published on 19 November reported.

By no means is the Indian wedding industry in need of any help. And vocal for local is great, but why not take local global?

Even when the ceremonies don’t take place in the country, the couple spends lakhs of rupees in India before they step onto the plane.

From the Sabyasachis and Manish Malhotras to nameless brands in the lanes of Chandni Chowk and Lajpat Nagar—the lehengas and sarees worn in Lake Como, Dubai, Phuket and more are Indian.

And it’s not just the clothes and jewellery. Couples are hiring Indian wedding planning companies, who in turn give their business to local vendors. The photographers and the DJ/band are almost always flown in from India.

And Indians are notorious for craving Indian food wherever in the world they go, so why would a wedding be any different? Even Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli had celebrity chef Ritu Dalmia whip up the feast in Tuscany while Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh took Bengaluru-based Sona Caterers to Lake Como.

And most often, it’s Indian airlines transporting the guest list to these destinations.

It’s the venue, the hotel rooms and the decor that isn’t Indian. And if ‘vocal for local’ is the Modi government’s pitch, then even Indian weddings don’t always happen at local hotel chains—it’s the Marriotts and the Hiltons that rule the roost.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant)