Newindpress

Hyderabad, Oct 18: Boy and girl elope and get married. Seek police protection fearing parental wrath. Think this is a typical Telugu film script?

It was, for actor Chiranjeevi until his youngest daughter, Srija, enacted it in real life. She married G Sirish Bharadwaj, her boyfriend for the past four years, at 11.30 this morning at the Arya Samaj Mandir in Bowenpalli.

Bharadwaj is in his final year B Tech and Srija is preparing for CA. It is said that the duo contacted the Arya Samaj authorities along with certificates and other proofs of their age on October 12 and fixed the 11.30 am ‘muhurat’ on October 17 for their marriage. They printed wedding cards and distributed them among close friends.

Their common friends organised the marriage, which is legally valid as both the bride and groom are majors. Though the wedding invitations were printed on behalf of the groom’s parents, parents on both sides were apparently kept in the dark.

Srija later said, ‘‘We have been in love for the past 4 years and decided to get married. I am 19 and Bharadwaj is 22.’’ Fearing ‘action’ from her family, she said,

‘‘We need support from the media and the police.’’

Bharadwaj, whose father is a lawyer, said he comes from a conservative Brahmin family and his parents would never have consented to an inter-caste marriage.

As a precautionary measure, the couple alerted the media even as their friends posted the marriage video and photos on websites and blogs.

Chiranjeevi preferred to stay away from the media glare. In the evening, his brother-in-law and producer Allu Aravind finally spoke on behalf of Chiru’s family.

‘‘We were discussing the issue these last few days. Srija left home this morning under the pretext of visiting a relative. Within an hour, the news about her marriage was on television,’’ he said.

Claiming that Chiranjeevi gave freedom to his children and treated them as friends, Aravind said, ‘‘He is in a state of shock. It will take a few days for him to come to terms with the development. May be, he will talk to the media later.’’

This is not the first time the family has undergone trying times in respect of matters matrimonial. There was the earlier instance of his brother and actor Pawan Kalyan being sued by his first wife, Nandini, for marrying Renu Desai without divorcing her. The case is still in the court.

The latest bout of stress on the Tollywood superstar comes at a time when he has been concentrating on the career of his son, Ramcharan, whose debut film, Chirutha, was released recently.