Bengaluru: Mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy’s fascination for Vijayanagara Kingdom ruler Krishnadevaraya is known to all. Taking this fascination a step forward, the former minister made sure that he recreated the lost glory of Vijayanagar Kingdom at least for a few days, while he celebrated the happiness of his daughter Brahmani’s wedding.
While weddings scheduled across India, post demonitisation have felt the pinch, the scenes at the ‘temporary Kingdom’ are different. The kingdom built over 36 acres of Palace Grounds in Bengaluru evinces no signs of cash crunch. The Reddys are reliving the glory of Vijayanagar Kingdom, that scripted the golden era of Karnataka’s history.
The Rs 500 cr ‘big fat wedding’ and its four-day ostentatious affair that began on November 12 with a Mehndi ceremony will culminate on November 16 with the solemnisation of vows.
Some of Bollywood’s renowned art directors and over 100 labourers have toiled to re-build Krishnadevaraya’s palace, Lotus Mahal and Mahanavami Dibba.
That is not it. It is said that Reddy has made sure to bring in slice of his own childhood by re-creating ‘Hale Mane’, his ancestral home at the wedding venue and it is said that this is where he intends to hand his daughter in marriage to Rajeev Reddy, son of Hyderabad based business tycoon. As many as 5 lakh guests are expected to attend this royal wedding so money is being splurged on arrangements in order not to cause any inconvenience to the VIPs and VVIPs. As many as 1000 managers, 2500 supervisors and 1 lakh ground staff will reportedly be on duty to take care of this job. An extravagant sum of Rs 500 Cr is reportedly being poured in for the entire processions. Priests from Tirupathi temple will lead the wedding rituals and as far as entertainment is concerned, some of Bollywood biggies are going to stage some show for the guests.
Recently, Reddy had made a statement that in jail or bail, he will marry his daughter off like a king and he is surely leaving no stone unturned to keep his words.
Though born in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Reddy has lived most of his life in Ballari district of Karnataka, the same district that is home to the ancient city of Vijayanagara. As the then minister of tourism in 2009, Reddy had splurged to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Krishnadevaraya.
