Shatrughan blesses Sonakshi-Zaheer; reception venue dolled up in red for all-night party

The Bollywood veteran and Asansol's newly-elected Lok Sabha MP, Shatrughan Sinha, blessed his daughter Sonakshi after witnessing her civil marriage with Zaheer Iqbal at her recently acquired Bandra apartment on Sunday.

Speaking to the media, the Trinamool Congress MP said: "Every father waits for this moment when his daughter is given to her chosen groom. My daughter looks most happy with Zaheer. Unki jodi salamat rahe (May their union stay strong forever." He had come to his daughter's apartment along with his wife Poonam.

With the legal formalities for the civil marriage completed, public attention has moved to Bastian, the Asian-inspired modernist restaurant on Linking Road in Mumbai.

The rooftop restaurant was founded in 2014 by Ranjit Bindra, Shilpa Shetty and Kunal Jani, and is helmed by Suvir Saran, celebrity chef and founder of the now-closed Michelin-starred restaurant Devi in New York.

For Sunday night's party, the theme is black and red, and a team of decorators is already at work in Bastian arranging an array of red flowers and rolling out the red carpet. DJ Ganesh, who's known for his eclectic choice of music, will be performing live at the reception.

Tabu, meanwhile, amped up the celebratory mood by declaring to the paparazzi during a promotional round for her upcoming film with Ajay Devgn, 'Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha', "Hum sab shaadi mein ja rahe hain (We all are going for the wedding)."

Close friends Huma Qureishi and Saqib Saleem were with Sonakshi on Saturday night. Yo Yo Honey Singh arrived on Sunday with the stated intention of attending the wedding and dancing without drinking, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh have also said they are all set for the wedding bash.

There is of course much speculation about whether Bollywood's 'Bhaijaan' Salman Khan, old friend of Zaheer's father who played Cupid and got the couple to meet, will attend the wedding.

Sonakshi and Zaheer, the man she lovingly describes as her 'personal psycho', have been dating for the past seven years. Salman, who gave Sonakshi her Bollywood break in the action-comedy 'Dabbang' (2010), played Cupid.

Zaheer, too, made his debut in a Salman Khan-produced film -- 'Notebook' -- where he was cast opposite another newbie, Pranutan Bahl, daughter of actor Mohnish Bahl, and granddaughter of Nutan.

It is said that Salman introduced Sonakshi to Zaheer on the sets of 'Notebook' in 2017.