It’s been a couple of days since Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda and actor and model Lin Laishram got married, and netizens can’t stop raving about their wedding yet. The reason is that Hooda and Laishram got married in a traditional Meitei Hindu ceremony.
The pictures of the bride and the groom dressed in traditional Manipuri Meitei wedding attire, and the bride dressed in traditional gold jewelry from head to toe took the internet by storm. Randeep Hooda and Lin Laishram’s traditional Manipuri Hindu vivah (marriage) ceremony is a refreshing departure from the woke weddings of Bollywood. And that’s why Bharatiya netizens love the wedding pictures and the strong statement about Hindu culture and identity that this marriage ceremony made.
Randeep Hooda, a relatively lesser-known Bollywood actor could not have imagined his marriage ceremony with his girlfriend would get him so much of attention. The simplicity of the wedding ceremony in which all the traditional Meitei rituals were meticulously followed makes this an authentic “vivah Sanskar” rather than a Bollywood wedding. That’s precisely why netizens can’t seem to get over this Manipuri Hindu marriage ceremony.
Let’s take a look at some of the comments made by netizens on the wedding pictures shared from Randeep Hooda’s X account.
“ OMG. I do not think Meitei Hindus can get better spokesman than this. What a beautiful picture. There is no stupid games or insult with bar-mala. There is no showoff of Bollywood chapri gang. There is NO fake foreign destination rubbish. Simple royalty. Pure LOVELY I must say: comments one user.
Another user shares a cheeky comment along with pictures of Bollywood woke weddings also featuring a pic from Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s wedding. “Something different from these fake candids”, writes the user.
Another user writes a heartfelt comment in Hindi, the English translation of which goes like, “Randeep, you have won our heart many times but today you’ve simply stolen it. When it comes to preserving and nurturing of culture and traditions, south Indian actors have always played an important role. But north Indian actors are somehow reluctant about displaying their culture and identity. But you kept authenticity over fake show off and that’s why you rose above everyone else… best wishes”.
There are many such comments complimenting the couple for choosing to marry in a traditional Manipuri Hindu wedding ceremony instead of going for a woke Bollywood wedding.
Randeep Hooda and Lin Laishram also shared pics of their wedding reception recently in which the two can be seen dressed in traditional golden outfits sporting a tilak. Bollywood celebrities wearing a tilak proudly in their wedding reception is indeed a strong statement.
Whether one likes it or not, Bollywood has a tremendous influence on the behavior and culture of the people of Bharat. Images of Randeep Hooda and Lin Laishram following traditional Meitei wedding rituals and sporting a tilak at their reception party are going to go a long way towards decolonizing the minds of middle-class Bharatiyas.
Bollywood weddings these days are an ugly showcase of pomp and spectacle. It’s all about brands, endorsements, and fake candids. The soul of a “Hindu vivah” is missing from these weddings. In such a scenario, even if one celebrity couple breaks the pattern and refuses to let their marriage become a woke spectacle, it sends a strong message to the ordinary Bharatiyas.
In view of the ethnic cleansing of Meitei Hindus in Manipur over the past couple of months in the face of the aggressive Christian conversion racket running in north-Eastern states that the mainstream media never talks about, the Meitei Hindu wedding ceremony of Randeep Hooda and Lin Laishram is a befitting response to the pseudo-secular woke lobby.
Meitei Hindus are a minority community in the northeast fighting for their survival. Yet, the “India is a Hindu-majority country” rhetoric keeps the issues faced by Hindus under wraps and snatches from them even the right to speak about their human rights violations. When there is no justice delivered legally or politically, the field of culture becomes a potent tool to change perceptions and radically redefine the narrative. That’s exactly what a celebrity wedding following the traditional Meitei Hindu ceremony does.
Also, unfortunately, there has been a lot of internal bickering and division amongst the Hindu community. The culture of the northeast has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted by the mainland Bharatiyas. To add to this, the north-east has been so much colonized by the Christian missionaries that many mainland Hindus wouldn’t even be aware of the fact that there are Hindus in states like Mizoram and Manipur.
Awareness about the culture of the Hindus of the northeast is important to counter this stereotypical perception. The vast publicity received by Randeep Hooda Lin Laishram’s wedding is a step in the right direction. The common refrain on social media is netizens are simply bored with over-the-top pretentious woke Bollywood weddings.
Seeing two Bharatiya celebrities getting married in a simple and traditional Hindu marriage ceremony makes them feel proud of their own culture and heritage. For the woke Bollywood wedding brigade, it’s probably a moment of crisis. In a desperate attempt to promote designer gowns, ivory-colored outfits, and décor that seems on the lines of a Christian wedding rather than a Hindu vivah, the Bollywood brigade has gone too far in its outright mockery of traditional Hindu marriage rituals.
But well for them, anything that grabs the eyeballs is good. So who knows, the woke crowd will make a beeline for traditional Hindu weddings after the crazy popularity of Randeep Hooda’s vivah . But it’s probably better for us to let them do their own woke thing and stay away from the beautiful and divine Hindu vivah rituals, lest they spoil its sanctity in their desperate bid to be more famous and woke.
