The year was 2006, when the former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai and junior Bachchan, Abhishek, were working together on not one but three movies, Umrao Jaan, Guru and Dhoom 2. As destiny had it, sparks flew and Abhishek, after the premiere of Guru, popped the million-dollar question to Aishwarya in Toronto with a prop ring. And of course, she said ‘Yes’. The lovebirds had sealed the deal on January 14, 2007, at Bachchan's residence, seeking the blessings of her in-laws, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.
Finally, they got married in April 2007, in Mumbai, amidst close industry friends and family. We still remember how big of an affair their wedding was. However, apart from massive media coverage, an unsettling rumour about Aishwarya being manglik took place in several tabloids and news publications. For the longest time, people wondered if Aishwarya had married a tree before tying the knot with Abhishek. In a media interview, Aishwarya had reacted to the rumours and revealed how she faces humiliation even during her international travel.
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In a 2008 interview with NDTV, Aishwarya Rai had spoken about her alleged kumbh vivah controversy. She recalled how people called her a cursed woman. For those who are unaware, as per Hindu beliefs, a manglik woman is said to be under the influence of bad omens. In the interview, she added how tabloids were writing juicy gossip about her and Abhishek’s wedding. Later, it was her sasur ji, Amitabh, who had answered the media’s queries. In her words:
“Yes, there was so much of that. I just thought it was so unnecessary. To dedicate the kind of prime time, the kind of newsprint, the kind of magazine cover stories for all of that was very unnecessary. The wonderful part was that, as a family, we are solid. We are all in the public eye, and we have ample opportunity to voice ourselves, but instead of adding to the din, we decided to have the father of the family… Paa did meet the media at a very decided point in time way after the wedding and answered all the queries.”
Aishwarya does not put up with nonsense. The diva has, time and again, shut down journalists who intend to ask her awful questions about her personal life. Talking about the tree controversy, Aishwarya had once opened up about how people have recognised these disturbing rumours and keep humiliating her at public events. In the same conversation, Aishwarya had narrated how during one of her international travel, the media of that nation was asking if she was cursed and got hitched to a tree for real. She had said:
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“It’s shocking. While we would like to imagine that it is a passing phase, it gets logged. And I recognised it at times when you get to travel abroad, of which there is an ample opportunity… So, you’re constantly interacting with international media, and when they start wondering at the sheer ludicrous nature of everything, like, ‘You got married to a tree, and you have this huge curse on you?’ You just think, ‘Oh my god, where am I going to start…'”
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A year before their intimate wedding, reports had begun doing the rounds that the couple had gone to Varanasi to perform a hush-hush kumbh vivah. In a 2006 Hindustan Times report, an astrologer had quoted:
“Abhishek and Aishwarya were in the holy town (Varanasi) at my suggestion. I had advised both the families to perform this corrective puja at an ancient Shiva temple.”
Aishwarya’s hubby, Abhishek, is known for his witty nature. Years after tying the knot, he had taken to the microblogging site and took a dig at the media by stating that he was still in an ongoing search of that tree whom the former Miss World, Aishwarya married. Abhishek’s tweet could be read as:
“And just for the record, we are still looking for this tree.”
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Before this tree controversy, many millennials were unaware of the term manglik. Since Aishwarya’s wedding, many teenagers started to discuss mangal dosha. In 2007, Amitabh Bachchan had told The Times Of India that he and his family weren’t superstitious at all and hadn’t even seen Aishwarya’s janampatri. He had said:
“Where is the tree? Please show it to me. The only person she’s married is my son. Unless you think Abhishek is a tree.”
Undeniably celebrities are under media scrutiny in every corner of this planet, but we love how gracefully the Bachchan family dismissed the bizarre rumours and gave befitting replies to the media.
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