Some of these lavishly designed and choreographed videos may even cost more than the honeymoon.
Bloomberg reports that “Middle-class India has a new obsession: pre-wedding videos. They’re extravagantly designed and choreographed, with music, dance routines and, often, movie-style sets. They can cost more than the honeymoon. Many are redolent with romance, while others turn disastrous. Some go viral on social media.”
The same article writes that “India’s wedding industry is gargantuan, with three million weddings in the season that ends this year in March and annual revenue of about $130 billion, according to Murugavel Janakiraman, founder & CEO of India’s largest online matchmaker, Matrimony.com. Many are week-long affairs with rituals, blingy outfits, diamond jewelry, dancing and feasting.”
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Middle-class India’s new obsession is pre-wedding videos with music, dance routines and, often, movie-style sets.
— Bloomberg (@business) March 18, 2023
And they can cost more than the honeymoon https://t.co/iEvMFU3yKI
According to a weddings platform service provider, Weddingz’ chief executive officer Gautam Swaroop, “Nobody wants to look at stiff, hours-long wedding videos of chanting priests and the couple doing saat pheras, seven circles around the holy fire.”
He continues, “These days, couples want to show off their cool factor.”
In one instance as per Bloomberg’s article, “the couple dressed in Indian wedding regalia stand knee-deep in a lake, bouncing their shoulders to a Bollywood song. The groom then bumps his betrothed, loses his balance and topples into the water, finery and all.
It wasn’t an act. The video, shot ahead of the couple’s wedding and meant to evoke their romance, was an epic fail — at least at first. Then the clip turned into an Instagram sensation, amassing 13 million views.”
According to the 26-year-old bride, Jyothi Lakshmi, “People started recognizing us at meetings, social gatherings, other weddings. The fall was worth it.” You can watch the viral video here which has already received more than 665,000 likes on Instagram.
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