Sania-Shoaib's marriage: Big Exploring Scandal?

The great Indian wedding spectacle just got itself a version 2. The reality TV wedding of Rahul Mahajan and Dimpy Ganguly was not only the newest low on the wedding block, it also had people guessing till the last minute if they’d actually say ‘I do.’ Reason? The ‘almost’ wedding of Rakhi Sawant and Elesh, that eventually didn’t happen, which was, if we see it that way, a mere episode in the ‘blast from the past’ shaadi series of Indian cinema and television. The latest link in the chain – will Sania and Shoaib manage the walk till the end of the altar?

The Indo-Pak love match has turned out to be yet another example of what has been absolutely key to Indian cinema – a dramatic spectacle of a just-to-be-married couple whose matrimonial plans are rudely interrupted by a third woman who bursts on to the scene with a, “Thehro! Yeh shaadi nahi ho sakti!” Like they say,

where there is a will, there are 5000 relatives, and where is there is a to-be-wedded couple – there is an alleged beeta hua kal. As Shoaib is ‘Maha’ troubled ahead of his nikaah, Abhishek Bachchan was similarly storm struck by Jhanvi, who claimed she was his wife, right before his wedding to Ash. It’s a tried and tested plot – in the midst of a perfect love story, enters a perfect stranger with strange accusations. Throw in a “Main iske bachchey ki ... ” and you have the perfect potboiler.

But dare we complete a chain without Chand and Fiza, that first couple of wedding drama? Changes in religion and name notwithstanding, it lead to Chand going back to his first wife, dropping Fiza like a hot potato, all in the public eye. So convinced is the audience of the puraana kissa, that bets are already on whether the Shoaib-Sania alliance will last, even before they’ve tied the knot. Of course, it has upstaged the till-now favourite in the number one position in the betting game – whether Rahul and Dimpy’s wedlock is here to stay. Any guesses?