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The Selected few who got to attend M. S. Dhoni’s hushhush wedding will remember it for Bollywood actor John Abraham’s lightning moves on the dance floor.

John, whose long- time companion Bipasha Basu played Cupid to Team India skipper and Sakshi Rawat, danced non- stop to the disco and bhangra numbers that rocked the post- nuptials party, which stretched till 5 in the morning on Monday.


For Dhoni and friends, the party took off immediately after the groom- to- be arrived at Vishranti Resorts, nestled deep in the woods at Kandoli, 25km from Dehradun, immediately after his engagement on Saturday evening.

The Team India Captain, beaming from ear to ear, joined his best man, mediumpacer R. P. Singh, his brother- in- law and five of his closest friends for the party around 11 pm. In deference to the family’s wishes, no alcohol was served to the guests.

It was Singh who had set up the meeting between Dhoni and Sakshi at the Jaypee Hotel in Mussoorie, where they decided to enter into a relationship. This was after the two had met a couple of times following their initial contact at Taj Kolkata - where Sakshi was an ‘ industrial trainee’ while still a hotel management student - at a party hosted by Bipasha.

Dhoni’s father had moved into the resort on Saturday morning. John arrived on Sunday afternoon, as did Sakshi and her parents ( who had earlier in the day attended a puja at the home of the bride’s cousin, Abhilasha Bisht). They were followed by Dhoni’s close friend and Chennai Super Kings teammate, Suresh Raina.


Giving Sakshi company was her schooldays friend Bhavna Oberoi and three of her classmates from the hotel management school in Aurangabad where she had pursued her hospitality course. The build- up to the marriage ceremony began early in the morning with traditional rituals such as Ganesh puja and singing of the mangal geet by the women.

The rituals started with the pagdi ceremony, following which Dhoni, wearing a midnight blue sherwani, mounted the white ghodi outside his cottage. It took the wedding party about 10 minutes to reach the banquet hall, which was 400 metres away from his suite. Once there, Dhoni dismounted for the milni (formal introductions) and exchange of shagun envelopes between the families.

Sharp at 8, Dhoni entered the hall for the jaimal ; the bride followed half an hour later. The jaimal was a sight to reckon with as both bride and groom were lifted high above by their friends and the two played hard- to- get before actually exchanging the garlands.

The bride, who looked resplendent in her crimson lehenga , wore minimal makeup and her choice of jewellery was confined to dainty, trendy trinkets. The men in the wedding party wore embroidered kurtas and pagris , and the women stuck to mostly pink saris. The exceptions were John, who paired his kurta with cool blue jeans, and Raina, who sported a sherwani.

Before the ceremony, informs the resort’s manager Ashwani Dhawan, Dhoni and the guests - their number did not exceed 100 - spent Sunday playing table tennis and carom, exploring the resort that stretches across 23 acres, checking out the mango orchard on the premises and identifying their favourite birds among the exotic species that visit the area as this time of the year.

Sakshi’s family, which belongs to Dehradun, hosted the dinner with a lavish spread of about 50 dishes, from dal makhni and macaroni to paneer tikka and chicken manchurian, and an array of ice- creams, cakes and puddings ( which neighbouring Mussoorie is famous for) and mocktails.

The wedding party, in fact, had spent the entire day digging good food. For breakfast, they had poha masala , idli sambar , methi thepla and aloo bonda with eggs, juices and hot chocolate. And the spread for lunch included butter chicken, mutton curry, yellow dal , malai kofta , baigan achari , ice- cream and gulab jamun . With the country’s most newsworthy wedding behind him, Dhawan, Vishranti’s manager, can only remember the veil of secrecy that both families had insisted on. “ It was such a closely guarded secret that we didn’t even inform our staff about the programme or about Dhoni,” he says. “ The staff saw him only after he arrived and because they stay within the resort there was no way the news could have leaked.” The newly- weds are both known to be private individuals - their relationship was one of cricket’s best- kept secrets - so their choice of their wedding venue couldn’t have been more appropriate.