The Wedding Planner Movie

'Dabangg' dominates Bollywood awards with 6 prizes

"My Name is Khan" also scooped up several top honors at the five-hour award bash that started Saturday night and rolled over into early Sunday. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan took the prize for leading male role for the film, about the treatment of Muslims in a world of heightened suspicions following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Khan played the family's Muslim patriarch who suffers from Asperger's syndrome. The film, nominated in seven categories, also took home the prize for best direction and best story. Khan was handed his award by Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor and two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, who congratulated Bollywood for helping to unite the world through film.

"Hollywood and Indian cinema must bring the world closer together," said Swank, draped in a glittering sleeveless deep red gown. "I believe in IIFA's vision—one people, one world."

Another Academy Award winner, Cuba Gooding Jr. presented the best director award to Karan Johar for "My Name is Khan," declaring that he was impressed by the power of Indian films around the world.

"I think it's absolutely wonderful how India has traveled the world of entertainment and I would love to play and be a part of a Bollywood movie myself," said Gooding, who broke out into a few dance moves.

"Dabangg" led the awards tally sweeping trophies in the music category in Toronto's packed Rogers Centre, filled with more than 22,000 Bollywood fans and stars. The hit took the prize for best playback singer female, best playback singer male and best music director. A playback singer pre-records songs so Bollywood actors can lip sync to them in their films. "Dabangg" star Sonu Sood won for best performance in a negative role. The film also garnered the awards for best screenplay and for best female debut which went to Sonakshi Sinha for her role in the film as Sood's love interest.

Anushka Sharma won the best female lead for her role as an assistant to a wedding planner in "Band Baaja Baaraat," a film about the world of wedding planning. Arjun Rampal took home the best male supporting prize for the political thriller "Raajneeti," and best supporting female role award went to Prachi Desai for "Once Upon a Time in Mumbai.

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I detest “The Wedding Planner”. It’s my absolute least favorite movie of all time. It’s not that I have anything against Jennifer Lopez per se, its her portrayal of the events industry that I have issue with. In the movie, J.Lo sails through any number of wedding snafus without even breaking a sweat. What the movie doesn’t show are the swollen ankles after a grueling sixteen hours on your feet, the screaming clients, temperamental caterers and all too frequent panic attacks in the bathroom when things just aren’t going your way.

As a meeting and event professional, I know that the industry is anything but the glamorized Hollywood version portrayed by Jennifer Lopez. Back-breaking, yes. Fulfilling, yes. Exciting, sure. Glamorous, maybe to some, but it wouldn’t be my first choice of words to describe the profession.

The funny thing is that I am not even in the weddings end of the business. Sure, I did a few weddings in my day, but quickly migrated to meeting and event planning in the corporate world. You could say that I did exactly enough weddings to know that I never wanted to do any more! However, I do feel a kinship with wedding planners. We may be in different segments of the business, but we are all ultimately meeting and events professionals.

I have several friends and contacts in the weddings industry and they were all equally outraged by “The Wedding Planner”. (For the record, they brought up the topic first!) The romanticized version of wedding planning portrayed by Jennifer Lopez bears little to no resemblance to the day in the life of a real wedding planner. It’s not that a wedding planner doesn’t actually do what Jennifer Lopez did in the movie. Sure, they go on site inspections, meeting with clients and coordinate with caterers. Its just that there is so much more involved in these tasks. Wedding planners work hard, putting in 16 hour days, consoling hysterical brides and running from location to location making sure that the client’s dollar is working as hard as it can. Maintaining that balance between fantasy and reality to create that perfect day is a challenging task for any wedding planner.

Ultimately, the fact that Jennifer Lopez was a wedding planner was just a backdrop to the romantic storyline of the movie. Hollywood never claimed that “The Wedding Planner” was a documentary on the weddings industry. With that being said, you may be asking yourself what exactly is the point of this article (besides being a cross between an emphatic rant and pointless ramble).

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