The music composer and the Sunrisers Hyderabad CEO will reportedly marry on November 11 in Greece, while sources disagree on whether the Chennai reception is on November 14 or 21 and the couple have yet to say anything at all
Music Meets Cricket, In Greece
CHENNAI. Music composer Anirudh Ravichander and Kavya Maran, CEO of the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, are reported to be marrying in November, according to Indian Opinion’s report on the Anirudh Ravichander and Kavya Maran wedding. All the sources cited agree on a ceremony in Greece on November 11. The date of the Chennai reception is disputed, with some reports saying November 21 and others November 14. Sun Group chairman Kalanithi Maran and his wife Kavery Maran invited Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to the reception, and the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office posted about the invitation on October 16. According to the report, the couple have not yet made an official announcement.
The result is a celebrity wedding in which the only party not discussing the wedding is the couple, while the rest of South India debates two possible reception dates with the intensity of a cricket selection committee.
The Reception Dilemma
Uncertainty over the reception date has caused anxiety among the kind of people who expect to be invited to such events, and among the much larger number who do not expect to be invited but would like to discuss it anyway. A Chennai event planner described the confusion. Some say the 14th, some say the 21st, she said. Some say it moved from the 14th to the 21st. I have clients who are not invited asking me which date to keep free. They want to be ready, just in case. It is the most Chennai thing that has ever happened.
A fan of Anirudh’s music in Coimbatore proposed a solution. Hold two receptions, he said. One on the 14th and one on the 21st. Anirudh can compose a different song for each. Kavya can invite a different IPL team to each. Everybody wins. The caterers especially win. They would be happy to make biryani twice.
Why Greece
The choice of Greece places the couple in a growing tradition of Indian destination weddings in Europe, which have become popular among wealthy families seeking scenic locations, privacy and photographs of whitewashed buildings against blue seas. A travel agent in Chennai said Greek islands had become a favourite. Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, she said. Very beautiful, very romantic and very far from relatives who would otherwise arrive uninvited. Distance is the most effective guest list control mechanism ever devised.
A Tamil uncle who had hoped for an invitation took a philosophical view. In my day, he said, weddings happened in the family hall with eight hundred people and no air conditioning. Now they happen in Greece with forty people and a drone. I understand. I would also prefer Greece to the family hall. But I would have liked to see the drone.
The Music
Anirudh, one of the most popular composers in Indian cinema, is known for chart-topping songs that become instant anthems at weddings, parties and processions across South India. Fans have speculated about the music at his own wedding. A music critic in Chennai said the pressure would be immense. When the man whose songs play at every wedding in Tamil Nadu gets married, she said, what does he play? His own songs would be too obvious. Somebody else’s songs would be a scandal. He may have to compose a new song for his own wedding and then pretend he did not.
The Cricket Connection
Kavya Maran, who has become a familiar face in IPL broadcasts for her animated reactions in the stands during Sunrisers Hyderabad matches, brings a cricket dimension to the wedding. IPL fans have joked about the dynamics. A Sunrisers fan in Hyderabad said he hoped the ceremony would go better than some of the team’s chases. The team has made us nervous many times, he said. Kavya’s reactions are famous. I hope at the wedding she is smiling the whole time, like when the team wins, not like when we lose two wickets in the last over.
The Official Silence
The couple have not made an official announcement, and the Telangana Chief Minister’s Office post about the invitation is, according to the report, the only government-level confirmation cited. In India, this has created the unusual situation of a wedding effectively announced by a state government’s social media team. A political journalist in Hyderabad found it amusing. Usually, governments announce schemes and projects, he said. Now they are announcing weddings. Next they will issue a press release about the menu. Honestly, it would get more engagement than the budget.
A Very Modern Union
The wedding brings together two of South India’s most recognisable public figures from music and sport, connected to one of the region’s most prominent media families. It reflects the way celebrity, business and entertainment intersect in modern India, where a wedding can be a cultural event, a business occasion and a national conversation all at once.
The Last Word
At a tea stall near the Sun TV offices in Chennai, a group of office workers argued over the reception date. One insisted it was the 14th. Another swore it was the 21st. A third said it did not matter because none of them were invited. The tea stall owner listened to the argument for ten minutes and then turned up the radio, which was playing an Anirudh song. Everyone stopped arguing and started singing. When the song ended, the owner smiled. You see, he said. Whatever the date, he is already at every party in Chennai.