Mumbai: One of Bollywood’s foremost talents, Farhan Akhtar, tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend, reality show host Shibani Dandekar, at Javed Akhtar’s Sukun farmhouse in Khandala on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Javed Akhtar, Farhan’s father, read out a poem that he had especially composed for this occasion. Farhan was dressed in a black tuxedo, while Shibani stuck to a traditional red-and-cream wedding outfit. They read out vows they had written themselves.
The guest list at this close-knit celebration included his ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ co-star Hrithik Roshan, musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, director-choreographer Farah Khan (who’s also Farhan’s first cousin), directors Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Ashutosh Gowariker, and the couple’s close friend, Rhea Chakraborty, who came along with her brother, Shouwik.
On the night before the wedding, Shibani’s sister, VJ Anusha Dandekar, danced to the DDLJ number, ‘Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna’, with Rhea. Farhan and Shibani had steadfastly stood by Rhea and Shouwik when they were being targeted by the media in the wake of the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide.
This is 48-year-old Farhan’s second marriage. Adhuna Bhabani, hairstylist and founder of BBlunt, is his first wife and mother of their two daughters, Shakya (22) and Akira (15).
Pune-born Shibani, who acted in Zoya Akhtar’s 2015 film ‘Roy’, starring Ranbir Kapoor, was raised in Australia and Africa. She was a singer — she and her two sisters had a band named D-Major — before turning into a model, reality show regular and one of the television hosts of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.