Swara and Fahad, an interfaith couple in India, plan to combine Hindu and Muslim wedding traditions for their upcoming wedding ceremony.
Swara Bhasker, an Indian actor, and Fahad Ahmad, a politician who comes from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds respectively, have been sharing glimpses of their wedding celebrations on social media after announcing their marriage last month. To create a shared culture of celebration, the couple plans to incorporate both Hindu and Muslim wedding traditions such as haldi, mehendi, and sangeet.
As an interfaith couple, they believe that these celebrations are a meaningful way to honor both of their religions. The couple also had a court marriage on January 6 under the Special Marriage Act in India, and they have emphasized that they do not want to change each other’s beliefs.
After meeting three years ago, Bhaskar and Ahmad have recently tied the knot. Regarding their wedding, the couple has made it clear that they have no intention of changing their religious beliefs. “We are both very conscious and proud of our identities, and nobody wants to change anybody,” they told the Times of India.
The couple has planned their wedding celebrations to incorporate elements from both Hindu and Muslim traditions. They have chosen to include rituals like haldi, mehendi, and sangeet that are common to both cultures. As an interfaith couple, they were legally married under the Special Marriage Act in India. Now, they are striving to create a shared culture of celebration that honors both of their backgrounds.
Ahmed and Bhasker reminisced about their initial meetings, with Ahmed recalling how she first saw Bhasker in a movie and admired her acting. She then searched for her on social media but did not reach out to her. They met officially for the first time at an anti-CAA protest held at August Kranti Maidan in December 2019, where someone urged Ahmed to contact Bhasker, describing her as a revolutionary.
Bhasker also recounted getting lost on the same day when she arrived for the protest and asking people who Fahad was until she finally spotted Ahmed. They both shared an interest in politics, which helped them develop a close bond. The couple revealed that they waited more than a year to get married so that they could both achieve financial stability.
