This billionaire politician built a palace in the middle of Bangalore for his daughter's Rs 500 crore wedding

Gali Janardhana Reddy, the mining baron and former Karnataka minister is hellbent on ensuring that his daughter’s wedding is the most lavish wedding the country has seen. And, going by the preparations, it’s safe to say, he might have succeeded.

It all started with the Reddys sending out an outrageously lavish wedding invite that comprised an LCD screen playing a custom video for all its recievers. Taking it a notch higher, Janardhana Reddy is reportedly spending a whopping Rs 500 crores on Brahmini, his daughter’s wedding, making the event the fattest wedding of the year.

Reddy who is an accused in several money laundering and illegal mining cases, believes that he is the reincarnation of the Vijayanagara King Krishnadevarya and has thus recreated the ancient city of Hampi of the Vijayanagara empire on 36 acres of land at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru as a setting for his daughter’s marriage.

The setting includes building King Krishnadevaraya’s palace, Lotus Mahal, Mahanavami Dibba, Vijaya Vittala Temple and Reddy’s childhood home ‘Hale Mane’, all of which are being reconstructed by Bollywood’s biggest art directors and an army of labourers. Horses, elephants, camels and chariots will lend even more pomp to the ceremony.

On the other hand, the celebrations have already begun in full swing from November 12 with a mehendi ceremony and will culminate in this year’s most extravagant event on November 16 when Reddy’s daughter Brahmini ties the knot with Rajeev Reddy, the son of Hyderabad-based industrialist. As many as eight priests from the Tirupati Thirmala temple have been flown down to perform the rituals.

It is estimated that over 30,000 guests will be in attendance, with 1500 rooms in star hotels being booked to accommodate them. There will also be 2000 cabs to ferry them to the venue and back while 15 helipads have also been set-up to fly in VIP guests. The VVIP guests, will be ferried from the entrance to the mandap area on cushioned bullock carts.

To ensure the security of all the guests, 3,000 bouncers, including special security on location, have been employed at the Bangalore Palace ground. Additionally, 300 police personnel have been employed for the VVIPs to attend the wedding. Sniffer dogs and bomb squads have also been deployed on location for the day of the wedding.

Reportedly, the bride’s wedding trousseau will comprise a Rs 17 crore saree, which she will wear on her wedding day. Accessorizing it will be jewellery worth Rs 90 crores, gifted by the bride’s father for the special occasion.

Bollywood and Tollywood stars are also expected to attend the wedding, with rumours of performances by Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Prabhu Deva flying wild. According to sources close to the family, State and Union government Ministers will be gracing the occasion.

In light of Demonestisation, the one question everyone wishes to know is how has the move not affected the lavish preparations for the wedding. That’s because the Reddys has completed all the transactions six months ago right when the wedding planning had started. Infact, Reddy has mortgaged close to 10 of his properties to borrow Rs 30 crores.

Reddy, who was arrested by the CBI on charges of illegal mining, has been out on bail since January 20, 2015, on the condition that he would not visit Ballari and Kadapa. In view of his daughter's marriage, Mr Reddy submitted a plea to permit him to visit Ballari and the apex court relaxed the restrictions for 21 days - from November 1 to 21.

Image credit: NewsMinute