While Bollywood weddings are generally magnificent occasions full of pomp and breathlessly scrutinized, these couples chose to cheat the spotlight… Each for their own individual reasons…

They were willing; his parents weren’t! - Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh

He was the young nawab-in-the-making, a struggling actor of 21. She was an established heroine of 33. Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh met, and the sparks flew – at least he thought so. He asked her out to dinner. She responded that she didn’t do dinner – and found herself inviting him to her home instead! A first kiss and he moved in that very night. Three months later they quietly took the plunge – the Ali Khans would never agree, anyway. Apparently, his mother Sharmila Tagore had learnt about their relationship just two days earlier, and warned him not to marry. She had warned in vain, only to have her fears confirmed as the next day’s newspapers splashed the ‘good news’!

Reclusive Rendezvous -  Aditya Chopra and Rani Mukerji

The pair had been hounded by marriage rumours; however, when the very reclusive Aditya Chopra wed Rani Mukerji, it was a given that they would want to keep it low-key. Yet nobody was prepared for the suddenness with which Rani revealed, via a statement, “It was a beautiful wedding in the Italian countryside, with just a few of our close family and friends with us”! Given Rani’s father’s ill health and the fact that this was the second time for Adi Chopra might have compounded the need to keep their wedding a complete secret. The secrecy was so watertight, not even her paternal uncles had heard about the couple’s “dream wedding…in the Italian countryside, in a place called Cortona,” which was conducted according to Bengali rituals, as the blushing bride later revealed.

No tamasha, thank you! - Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli

Clever Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli had themselves their big, fat secret wedding thousands of miles away in the Italian countryside. No media madness, no surging spectators, just them and their closest folks in a heritage resort with high security keep any possible untoward attention at bay. It was apparently on Anushka’s mentor, Aditya Chopra’s advice that they decided to escape the inevitable tamasha by choosing a far-off destination wedding. After months of speculation, when they did tie the knot in Tuscany, they did it by being fully in control of how much access the world had to their special day.

Amidst controversy, a quiet confirmation - Akshay Kumar & Twinkle Khanna

Akshay Kumar was a total player with several high-profile relationships and even a rumoured marriage to Raveena, to his credit (?). Even his relationship with Twinkle had been rather stormy as they had already been through two engagements. This is probably the reason why, when they did eventually tie the knot, they chose to keep it absolutely low key. A secretive affair, their wedding had only about 50 people, including Aamir Khan who doubled up as videographer, Dharmesh Darshan and Amar Singh. A sudden decision, with everything finalised in a jiffy, the entire ceremony lasted just around two hours. The venue? The home of Dimple’s designer friends, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, with dad Rajesh Khanna performing the kanyadaan. The Khiladi had finally hung up his wayward boots... we think!

Penchant for privacy - John Abraham & Priya Runchal

All through 2013, rumours swirled about John Abraham walking down the aisle. When he did take the plunge, it was well out of the media glare. The world and its aunt remained clueless about his marriage to girlfriend Priya Runchal, till the actor sent off a casual tweet that read, “Wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 2014! May this year bring you love, good fortune and joy. Love, John and Priya Abraham.” The marriage, it was later learnt, was a very intimate affair with only family in attendance. It was solemnized at the office of a registrar in Los Angeles; minus any religious ceremony, on New Year’s Eve. After the high-profile glare of his relationship with Bipasha Basu, when this gorgeous hunk wed, he kept it understandably discreet.

Pleasing the parents - Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri

Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri were head-over-heels but they might not have married when they did, had it not been for his father’s decree… Apparently, Amitabh had promised to take a trip abroad with Jaya, if their film Zanjeer clicked at the box office. It did and established Bachchan as the Next Big Thing! However, Bachchan Sr., Harivansh Rai was not too comfortable with the idea of his son jetting off abroad without marrying his girlfriend first. And so it was settled! The families sought to keep the wedding low-key by having it at the home of a family friend. It was simple, traditional and dignified; just the way both sides wanted it. The hastily arranged marriage completed, the couple left for London the very next day, as planned – only it became their honeymoon!