JODHPUR, India: In its sunset glory of mango and fuchsia pink it was ¡ª according to the Indian gossip sheets ¡ª the wedding of the century, a movie set worthy of Bollywood and a lavish celebrity fest. ("Over 600 bottles of champagne," crowed The Bombay Times). It was also described, with irony as bold as the Bindi anointing the bride's forehead, as "the most significant event in North India since the first battle of Panipat."

Elizabeth Hurley carries her son after arriving with her
Indian husband Arun Nayar (not in picture) at Jodhpur airport. [AP]

If that reference to the founding of the Mogul empire leaves you as puzzled as Indian paparazzi faced with British television stars arriving at Jodhpur airport, you have got the gist of last week's Hindu wedding of model, movie actor, fashion designer and professional poseur Elizabeth Hurley and her half- Indian husband Arun Nayar.

Celebrity is in the eye of the beholder.

In spite of the globally inter-connected world of cyberspace (not least in techno- savvy India), the names of bride and groom were previously unknown across the subcontinent. So were their A-list international guests from the Texan social queen Lynn Wyatt to Elton John's partner David Furnish. And vice versa. When Preity Zinta, Bollywood's hottest property, flashed her famous dimpled smile at Hurley and Nayar, presenting them with a tongue-in-cheek award for their Indian dancing, the western partygoers hadn't a clue that they were watching an Asian megastar.

The eye of the celebrity storm was Hello! Magazine, which had bought the exclusive rights to follow the bride from her English wedding in a country castle to the maharajah of Jodhpur's Art Deco palace (turned luxury hotel) and on to the Rajasthani desert, where guests camped out in a tent city and danced until the camels came home.

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The verdant cricket pitch, rolled out on the Umaid Bhawan palace lawn, had a score sign planted among the purple bougainvillea bushes and the flaunting peacocks. The match officially ended in a draw, but it might have given the victor as "India."

In spite of all the hoopla surrounding the fame game, it was the buffets with local dishes and colorful handspun ice cream or the saris worn by august guests such as Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, that were a triumph for exotic, indigenous elegance.

True, Hurley herself waved a flag for her favorite European designers, switching from a pink Donatella Versace wedding "sari" to a scarlet and gold Roberto Cavalli dress, as she was carried on a cart like a Rajput princess up the ramparts of Jodhpur's Mehrangarh Fort.

But the previous night in the desert, even her white goddess gown (by the British designer Jenny Packham) was upstaged by the silver top and skirt, as she did a Bollywood version of a bridal dance for her husband. The shimmering outfit was by the Indian designer Rohit Bal, who also created Nayar's tailored coat and its mini version for Hurley's four-year-old son, Damian.

The arrival of the bridegroom on a horse, accompanied by camels and a group of turbaned peacock males, proved that from the designer Tom Ford (with an emerald aigrette, or jeweled feather, in his turban) to the beauty mogul Leonard Lauder, headgear and jewels can do more for a man than a tux. Although the women's hennaed hand patterns might look weird when international guests like Evelyn Lauder go back to Manhattan.

The other winner at this "Monsoon Wedding" was family life. For however grand the scale, from the flower-filled cupola of the hotel and its stuffed trophy tigers through the fireworks exploding above the mighty cliff-top fort, all weddings are alike ¡ª right down to the father of the groom having a tiff with his son and the bride stumbling over the Sanskrit vows. Celebrity or celebration, it was all one under the desert sun.