There were quite a few headline-grabbing big fat celebrity weddings this year, but they were all trumped on Google Trends.
New Delhi: From ‘DeepVeer’ to ‘NickYanka’, 2018 has been the year of big fat celebrity weddings that have had social media users hooked and how. Even so, it was an entirely different type of wedding that won the Google search stakes by eliciting more queries than any other.
ThePrint went through Google Trends data to find out which of this year’s famous weddings attracted the most online traffic, and what made them tick with India’s click-happy social media army. Here are the results:
1. Veere Di Wedding
The most Google-searched wedding in India wasn’t a real wedding at all.
Veere Di Wedding, the rather controversial movie starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania, made more than a few headlines as it set out to narrate the story of four women who smoke, drink and talk about sex with abandon.
From the song Tareefan to Swara Bhasker’s masturbation scene, different people looked up Veere Di Wedding for very different reasons, landing it on top of Google’s wedding searches.
Also read: Veere Di Wedding: Bollywood needs better education. Maybe a sociology class?
2. Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas
It’s not every day that a Bollywood queen marries a Hollywood heart-throb, so it was only expected that actor Priyanka Chopra’s wedding to singer-actor Nick Jonas would become the talk of the town.
The two tied the knot — in a Hindu and a Christian ceremony — at Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhawan Palace on 2 December after dating for nearly two years.
From their 10-year age gap, to Priyanka’s 75-foot veil and Dutch bachelorette party, the wedding made news for several reasons, including some deeply controversial ones.
The fireworks display at the wedding was trolled in light of Priyanka’s advocacy against Diwali crackers, and a prominent American magazine was forced to retract a racist article that termed the Bollywood star a “global scam artist” who was forcing Jonas into marriage.
Also read: After Deepika-Ranveer, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are in control of their wedding story
3. Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal
It was the wedding of two billionaire scions, talked about as much for the fat price tag (an estimated Rs 700 crore) as the star-studded festivities (singing powerhouse Beyonce was among the performers).
Isha Ambani, the daughter of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, married billionaire Ajay Piramal’s son Anand, a childhood friend, on 12 December. While the wedding took place at the Ambanis’ plush 27-floor Mumbai residence Antilia, the engagement was conducted at Lake Como in Italy, an increasingly popular site for celebrity nuptials.
The wedding was preceded by a three-day gala in Udaipur, where some of Bollywood’s biggest stars performed for the couple.
The guests included former US presidential candidates John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, and the wedding invite alone is estimated to have cost lakhs.
Also read: With Isha’s wedding, Mukesh Ambani shows he is the real Crazy Rich Asian
4. Sonam Kapoor-Anand Ahuja
Sharing the third slot on the list is Bollywood star and fashionista Sonam Kapoor’s 8 May wedding to businessman boyfriend Anand Ahuja, which followed a four-year courtship.
The wedding festivities were as stylish as expected from two fashion icons, with a glamorous sangeet, star-studded wedding, and fun reception: A video of Shah Rukh Khan dancing at the wedding went viral.
The photo of Ahuja sporting sneakers with his sherwani at the reception had social media swooning for days.
Also read: Social thunderstorm on Sonam Kapoor’s wedding a toast to the nosy aunty in all of us
5. Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh
It was one of the most anticipated weddings of the year when Bollywood’s long-term on-screen and off-screen lovers Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh tied the knot.
The two got married on 14 and 15 November at one of the most luxurious villas in Italy, with the scenic Lake Como in the backdrop.
The grand affair was strictly private, with guests requested not to share any pictures from the wedding.
The couple subsequently held multiple receptions in India, which became a big talking point, not just for their number but also the couple’s outfits.
Also read: Deepika Padukone’s hearty laughter at her wedding has shattered an age-old culture
A lot more wedding rings…
Many other celebrities tied the knot this year too, the latest being ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap on 14 December in a low-key ceremony.
Celebrity consultant Suhel Seth, 55, — accused of sexual harassment by multiple women — married his model-girlfriend Lakshmi Menon, 37, on 25 December.
Comedian Kapil Sharma got hitched to his girlfriend Ginni Chatrath on 12 December in her hometown of Phagwara, Jalandhar.
The couple also hosted a star-studded reception at Mumbai’s JW Marriott on 24 December.
Former Miss India Neha Dhupia’s surprise wedding to model Angad Bedi on 10 May was followed by rumours that the hasty nuptials were driven by pregnancy.