After days of media speculation, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai finally got engaged in Mumbai on Sunday.
The engagement ceremony took place at the Bachchans' residence soon after the couple landed from the premiere of their latest film Guru in Toronto and New York.
The event was attended by family members of the Bachchan and the Rais. Bachchans' close family friend Amar Singh also attended the ceremony.
It is believed that Abhishek proposed Aishwarya after the premiere of Guru in New York. The actress accepted the proposal on the spot.
Speaking to rediff.com, Aishwarya's media manager Hari Singh confirmed the couple's engagement. "The news is confirmed. Abhishek and Aishwarya have got engaged," Singh said.
However, he refused to give any further details. "At this moment, I can only say that the news of engagement is true," he said.
The marriage date has not been confirmed but it is believed that only very close relatives will be called for the most-awaited Bollywood marriage of 2007.
Earlier, it had been reported that the marriage will take place on February 19, 2007. But that has not been confirmed as yet.
As the news of the engagement became public, the who's who of Bollywood started pouring in at Amitabh Bachchan's residence 'Jalsa' in Mumbai to congratulate the couple.
Karan Johar and Kirron Kher were the first to reach Bachchan's home followed by industrialist Anil Ambani and his wife Tina.
Abhishek and Aishwarya, also known as Abhiwarya, first acted together in the movie Dhai Akshar Prem Ke in 2000, where they developed close friendship. Little is known on when the friendship developed in love but the first signs surfaced after Aishwarya split with her last boyfriend Viviek Oberoi in November 2005.
One of the main reason for the split was Aishwarya never publicly acknowledged that she was dating Viviek Oberoi whereas he was talking about his affair all over the town.
Abhishek was earlier engaged to Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor. However, the engagement broke off and Karisma married Delhi-based industrialist Sanjay Kapoor in September 2003.
It was in February 2006, when Amitabh Bachchan's brother Ajitabh Bachchan admitted to media that he had gone to Bangalore-based astrologer Chandrashekhar Swamy with the horoscopes of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.
The astrologer had admitted that he had checked the horoscopes of the duo and predicted that if 'God willed,' the wedding will happen.
Over the days, the news of Abhiwarya's wedding died down, but the couple was regularly spotted at various events. Neither Aishwarya nor Abhishek ever admitted that they were seeing each other. At the same time, the films that Aishwarya preferred had Abhishek in the lead roles. Umrao Jaan, Dhoom 2 (where she was paired opposite Hrithik) or Guru -- all had Abhishek's presence.
"When I will get married, you all will know," she had told rediff.com in November 2006 at the release time of her film Umrao Jaan. Though the film bombed at the box office, Aishwarya and Abhishek were soon spotted at the Varanasi Sankat Mochan temple on November 27, 2006.
After that incident, the Rais and Bachchans were seen making endless visits to all the holy temples across the country for God's blessings. It seems now that God has finally blessed the couple.
