Wed for the camera, please?

Model-cum-reality TV star Veena Malik takes pre-wedding drama to a new level.

Controversy queen Veena Malik is officially the first Pakistani, non-Hindu bride who will have a Swayamvar — a Sanskrit word which means choosing a groom from a list of suitors — in India, reports hindustantimes.com. After actor Ratan Rajput’s “Swayamvar” show earlier this year, Malik’s been selected to choose her prospective groom on the show’s fourth season, which is expected to go on air next year, sometime around the fifth edition of Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

Filmypanda.com quotes “Swayamvar” as a reality programme in which competitors execute responsibilities and encourage the expectant bride or groom to accept the suitor’s hand in marriage. The show is divided in different stages, starting with calls for entries, filtering through them, selecting the most eligible bachelors or bachelorettes out of the entries’ pool and then shooting the actual courtship process at a palace in some part of India. Out of all the relationships that were an outcome of previous seasons, only one relationship managed to make it to the final stage, which is the wedding of the winner and the desirable bride or groom.

According to hindustantimes.com, the first set of teasers, promos and call for entries have all been shot at Taj Mahal in Agra on November 9 with Malik, who has been linked to Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif, and actor Ashmit Patel, who, in the past, was also her co-housemate in “Bigg Boss” season four last year. Malik faced plenty of criticism for her behaviour with Patel on the 24-hour prime time reality show but the duo have continuously denied their relationship and maintained the ‘good friends’ tag. Now, it’s rumoured that Patel may even appear on the show and help her choose Mr Right. If she walks off without an actual marriage with one of the prospective grooms from the show, she will get only INR30 million. However, if she actually marries the man she chooses on television, she will get a total of INR45 million, reports entertainment.oneindia.in.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2011.