Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who gets married to industrialist Raj Kundra on Sunday, is having a sangeeta and mehendi ceremony at her best friend Kiran Bawa's bungalow in Khandala on Saturday, but Shilpa's father may miss it, since he is down with malaria, says a Mid Day report.
Shilpa's father Surendra Shetty is recovering from malaria in hospital, and the family hopes, he should be well enough for Kanyadaan on Sunday.
Shilpa's friend told the newspaper: "Poor Shilpa, her sister Shamita and their mother Sunanda are all feeling very low as her dad Surendra Shetty was suddenly taken to the ICU on Thursday night at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Andheri.
He has malaria. By Friday morning his condition improved and he was taken out from the ICU. This has put a dampener on the wedding festivities.
Shilpa is extremely close to her parents and sister and unfortunately because of his poor health, her father won't be able to attend Shilpa's mehendi and sangeet ceremony today."
The source adds, "Thank God everything was diagnosed overnight and her dad was given the correct treatment on time or he wouldn't have been able to do the kanyadaan.
If that had happened, Shilpa would have been devastated. Even now, the whole thing has cast a shadow on the marriage proceedings, but Shilpa is happy that her dad will be able to give her away!"
On a more cheerful note, the source says that for the mehendi ceremony, instead of the usual chaniya choli, lehenga or sari, Shilpa has chosen to be different.
"Shilpa will be wearing a hot pink silk kaftan with zari work and Swarovski crystals done by Tarun Tahiliani (who has also designed the wedding sari).
Veena Nagra, who has done the mehendi for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amrita Arora Ladhak and other B-Town actresses will be doing Shilpa's mehendi too.
Raj will also be casually attired. Shamita will be wearing a gold and peach salwar kameez designed by Manish Malhotra today, and for the wedding, an anarkali-cut salwar-kameez in mauve and blue by Tarun Tahiliani.
Says Shamita, "I have barely had time to get my outfits stitched for Shilpa's wedding as I left BB house only a week ago. For Shilpa's wedding I have two options a lehenga or a sari.
One is designed by Neeta Lulla and the other by Manish Malhotra. I still haven't been able to shift gears from the BB house. I feel as if I am functioning on auto-pilot sometimes."
Shamita plans to take a small break after Shilpa's marriage. And who does she think will win BB? "I hope it's either Aditi Gowitrikar or Bakhtiyar Irani as both are my friends."
