Fawning over the Royal Wedding over, here are the real lessons for Bollywood

It is baffling why so much brouhaha was  made over Prince  Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle in India.More baffling was the fuss over Priyanka Chopra’s presence at the wedding. Though I  was fascinated by  her fascinator,  it didn’t seem to do that much for India’s post-Colonial relationship with the British royalty.

While we  focused on trivia  at the Royal wedding, the real lessons for Bollywood couples were served by the spirit of radical change,  progress , sheer pragmatism and common sense Prince Harry and  Meghan Markle have brought to the foreground through their marriage.Through their marriage this couple manifests the ultimate liberal union of two individuals, their backgrounds, lineage, race and  ethnicity notwithstanding.

As a British White Royal Male and An America Actress Of Mixed Race  the  couple knows its  responsibilities as a celebrity team and intends  to work vigorously into being setting an example  for youngsters  of every  race and country.

Team work,say  the couple, is the guiding  factor in their marriage.They’ve revealed how they share a mutual passion for change.

What  example do Bollywood’s celebrity marriages  set for anyone, even for themselves? There are couples in Bollywood who have married across the communal divide(Kareena-Saif, Shah Rukh-Gauri), those who have defied the age-convention(Arjun-Mehr, Abhishek-Aishwarya and  now  Angad-Neha).In a country crippled by orthodoxy and  convention,have they ever thought they could be role models for breaking taboo alliances?

Here is  why the Harry-Meghan marriage  stands a  better chance of working than routine celebrity alliances. Harry knew nothing about Meghan’s work and Meghan was not directly impressed by  Harry’s royal antecedents when they met. The process of discovering each other’s background and family details happened as they fell in love.

Celebrity marriages  often fail because they  come with too much baggage. Once the couple leaves their past  at the dating door the  courtship starts on  a clean slate.

Once love happened Meghan made sure the Royal Family accepted her. She worked on honing her  relationship with Prince Harry’s grandmother and the rest  of his  family. Meghan now  gets a royal welcome into  her husband’s wife.She worked  on  it,though not any  obvious way.

There  is a lesson here too for Bollywood: when in  love always win  the  family’s confidence and trust .Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif could never impress RanbirKapoor’s mother. But Mrs Neetu Kapoor is already clicking  selfies with Alia Bhatt.

Lastly the way Prince Harry and his ladylove handled the  paparazzi and the issue of privacy in their super-celebrity liaison  shows how  simple  it is to avoid being accosted in public.

Simply stay home. That’s what  Harry and  Meghan did during their courtship. Instead of constantly cribbing  about  a lack of privacy they built an environment  of privacy around their togetherness by following a very simple ground rule: don’t go out for dinner. Stay home. Order  a pizza. Watch  The Crown  together. Don’t   insist on  going to very public places only to crib  about being chased for  pictures. 

If you don’t like attention  don’t seek  it. Simple.I think Harry and Meghan  have showed future generations of  celebrity the  path to a successful alliance. Follow their dreams. Not the clothes and hats that they wear.

(Subhash K Jha is a film critic and movie expert)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)