Anushka's Virat Wedding

The not-so-big-or-fat Italian wedding showed smart thinking by India's latest sweethearts

This past week, the social media and message boards were abuzz with news that India's most glamorous power couple, national cricket team captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood A-list actor Anushka Sharma, made it official in Tuscany, Italy, after weeks of will-they-won't-they speculation. Now husband and wife, the celebrity couples' nuptials did break many a heart, one suspects more male than female. There was a media circus on, for sure, but the couple did a spectacular job in controlling the narrative before the wedding and giving out to the rumour mill only as much as was required. In times of extreme paparazzi intrusion and creepy levels of stalking, Virat and Anushka were able to take the media for a harmless ride and protect their privacy for what is surely an occasion for family and friends only, so well done!

Anushka and Virat were able to maintain a fine balance between their personal space and the demands of celebrity culture. While on the one hand they ensured that the wedding itself was a low-key, private affair, on the other they were mindful of keeping their huge fan-base satiated as they kept updating their Instagram accounts with wedding photographs and a thank you note. In a highly consumer-driven environment, Virushka, as the couple is now known by some, has become a brand to be reckoned with. They have set themselves some tough goals as a power couple, though. In a country obsessed with both the sport and Bollywood, the union between cricket and cinema from Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore to Mohammad Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani or even Zaheer Khan and Sagarika Ghatge has had its fair share of limelight. But nothing will compare to the media scrutiny which the newly-weds are likely to undergo, with both riding high in their respective careers at the same time. We wish them well.

Anushka and Virat are without doubt India's new power couple and the net worth of Brand Virushka, as it were, today stands at estimated Rs 600 crore. We suspect that the real reason they are idolized by some many young people is that they set the benchmark for what a young, meritocratic and self-made Indian woman or man can achieve. They have shown that they can handle the pressures of celebrity despite some blimps when trolled viciously on social media and their ripostes have been honest and pretty fearless. They represent a new India that does what it wants and on its own strength.