Amitabh Bachchan to Rajnikanth, Ram Mandir consecration to be star-studded event

Ayodhya, Jan 20 (PTI) Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar and Amjad Ali Khan are among the A-listers from the entertainment and music world who have been invited as state guests for the consecration of the grand Ram Temple here on Monday.

The 500+ state guest list, accessed by PTI, features a mix of actors, directors and singers from the showbiz world invited for the event.

According to details on the list, Bachchan will fly into Ayodhya in a private chartered plane on Monday for the opening of the 161-feet-tall pink sandstone shrine.

The list features Tamil superstar Rajinikanth as well as Telugu mega stars Prabhas, Allu Arjun and Junior NTR. The south film industry will also be represented by Chiranjeevi and Mohanlal.

Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn are on the list, which also features Kangana Ranaut, Madhuri Dixit and her husband Shriram Nene. BJP MPS Hema Malini and Sunny Deol also feature in the list of invitees.

Anupam Kher, directors Madhur Bhandarkar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his wife as well singers Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher, Shankar Mahadevan, Anup Jalota, Sonu Nigam and Anuradha Paudwal have been invited.

Actors Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia, who portrayed Ram and Sita in Ramanand Sagar’s popular TV series “Ramayan”, are on the list too. As are director Chandraprakash Dwivedi, singer Malini Awasthi, sarod maestro Amjad Ali, musician Ilayaraja and family members of the late singing legend Lata Mangeshkar.

The invitees include regional artists such as Jahnu Barua, Kaushiki Chakraborty, Manju Borah, and Malcha Goswami. Poet Manoj Muntashir and his wife, and lyricist and writer Prasoon Joshi along with his wife too find mention.

It is not clear how many of them will actually attend the ceremony.

While some on the list may fly in private jets on January 22, others are likely to take regular flights to reach a day earlier and stay overnight either in Ayodhya or nearby cities like Lucknow.