He can easily be called the brand ambassador of weddings. It was way back in the mid-90s when Shah Rukh Khan decided to make that extra buck at a wedding in Delhi. It was the first time a film celebrity danced at a wedding and was clearly frowned upon. But the quick money was too good to resist and soon many actors followed suit putting on their dancing shoes at weddings and going home with mega-bucks.

The recent Govani wedding was a classic case. It’s reported that SRK was there for precisely 27 minutes and walked away Rs 3.5 crore richer. Bipasha Basu charged Rs 70 lakh, Rani Mukerji with Rs 50 lakh, Emraan Hashmi with Rs 30 lakh and Neil Nitin Mukesh Rs 20 lakh for the same wedding.

Akshay Kumar, also for the Govani wedding, reportedly demanded Rs 6 crore instead of his regular Rs 3.5-4 crore. Bunty Walia of GS Entertainment, who had managed the entire event, says, “SRK, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor are the most in demand today for high-profile weddings. Amongst the girls it is Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu and Deepika Padukone. Both the client and the event management company decide who will perform. But when it comes to expensive stars, it is the client who decides.”

These wedding budgets run into crores and stars are only too happy to be a part of them. Celina Jaitley, who had performed at the Mittal wedding in Paris and now once again at the Govani pre-wedding party, says. “To me it is the family and the event management company that matters more than the money. And the Govanis are like family. Don’t we dance at our cousin’s or friend’s weddings?”

... contd.