TV personality Saira Essa’s R1-million wedding has been slammed as a publicity stunt, reports SUZY BELL in this week’s Cultural Sushi column
A WICKED quote doing the rounds in Durban: “Following Saira Essa around India is like being trapped in a cupboard with a postcard of the Taj Mahal.” The words come from a television critic slating Essa’s India travel programme which drew sharp criticism from viewers who felt it served as little more than a plug for Essa, her designer half-brother Imraan Vagar and the sponsors.
“It’s happening again with her wedding. It’s just another publicity stunt,” laughs Durban cartoonist Nanda Soobben, who has satirised the event. Essa has packed off some 50 guests, mostly media, for an all- expenses-paid fortnight in India to witness her marriage to Mark Corlett. She has spared no luxury and worked out a detailed itinerary for every step of the way. In the hype surrounding her dream wedding, she is building herself into a major celebrity. Durban papers are taken by the story and everyone has a comment – as long as it’s off the record.
A Durban theatre personality had this to
say this week: “She’s very silly, but quite shrewd. If only she were better connected politically she’d be like another Evita. She certainly has fed the fires of exoticism.” Another anonymous socialite described Essa’s fairytale wedding as “a disgusting display of obscene wealth. Why doesn’t she set up drama bursaries in her name instead?”
Another said: “For her sake I hope her second marriage lasts, because after a wedding like this it would be horribly embarrassing if it turned out to be a Brenda Fassie fiasco.” A local entertainment critic added: “It’s so over- the-top, quite vulgar actually. Who does she think she is? Royalty?” In Durban, someone senior in the theatre industry said Essa had “alienated many in Durban. It’s like she has reinvented herself even down to her blue contact lenses. I think she wants to be white. I bet she’s had more nose jobs than I’ve had leg waxes. But credit must be given to her as she survived the cultural boycott.” Then again, theatre types are notorious bitches.
The invitation says it all – a dream photograph of Essa with her man, Mark Corlett, an independent film producer. It encapsulates the slushiness of a Mills & Boon cover and the sentimentality of a Sarah Moon poster. But then who really cares if small-time celeb Saira Essa is the queen of kitsch or just the princess of publicity seekers? A journalist based in New Delhi, Kunj Lalgirdhari of the daily newspaper, Sakil, said Essa had told him her wedding is: “A private affair. Who I have at my wedding or what it costs is no one’s business.”
It’s pretty ironic when you consider the entourage of about 20 press (including TV crew) along to cover the event brings costs to well over R1-million. This was confirmed by Ralph Miranda, manager of Trimurti Holidays in Bombay. “It’s about $225 per night. At the exclusive hotels for 12 nights would cost $2 750 per person. But then there is transportation, air-fares and other costs. I know she has had good deals, with the hotels giving her discounts because she’s a big celebrity. There is also a lot of press here covering it. We are doing the spade work for the wedding but we may have partly sponsored the wedding. I don’t know for sure.”
Director of Trimurti Holidays, Asha Advani, said from Agra: “Yes, I have done this as a business deal. But it’s not true that it’s another Saira travelogue, it’s a genuine wedding – such a touching event – something she’s always yearned for. The film footage is of wedding shots with a bit of travel. It’s so moving. I think some people are just stirring up controvesy. Just tell your readers to wait and see what’s on TV. It’s not a fashion shoot or a travelogue.” Advani denied that her company was partly sponsoring the package as a pay-off for publicity.
The Government of India Tourist Office in Dubai said it has not given any financial assistance to Essa, and India’s consul general in Johannesburg, Skana Tayal, said they “helped” Essa out, loaning video equipment “to save on customs duty”.
But highly placed sources within the SABC were quoted in Durban’s Post newspaper claiming the wedding epic will be filmed as a six-part travelogue by an independent television company closely linked to the couple. “Miss Essa is not paying a cent for her wedding. What we have here is an excellent marketing campaign. The television company and the newly-weds have engaged in a trade-off. Air-time will be given to sponsors such as the airlines and hotels transporting and accommodating some of Miss Essa’s South African guests.”
The press was tempted by the freebie: “You’ll be whisked away on a yacht hosted by the minister of tourism of Goa … after a hard day’s tanning at the sun-drenched beaches on the following day, join us for a sunset [Christian] wedding at the water’s edge … then off to sample authentic cuisine as well as a Rajput feasts at the Maharajah’s castle … the highlight of the trip, the Taj Mahal in Agra where the wedding ceremony [Buddhist/Hindi/Muslim] takes place at sunrise.” Rides on elephants, champagne breakfasts, a henna and bangle party. All expenses paid, except telephone, laundry and drinks.
Johan van Staden, commissioning editor for SABC3 magazines, and according to his secretary “a close friend to Saira”, said she was not sure if he took a SABC camera crew, although Trimurtri Holidays in Bombay, confirmed there were two other names booked in under the SABC, a Mr M Mulholland and Mr I Swan.
An SABC spokesman later said that Van Staden was on leave in India, not on assignment, but had taken a camera with him.
She opened her own drama school, the Upstairs Theatre in 1979, she starred in two `’high budget commercials” for a `’major fruit juice company”, then later into television presenting Essence on East- Net and then later for Premiere . Essa has launched her own perfume, and a range of designer clothes. An admirer of Essa said: “She is one woman who knows what she wants out of life. Hers is the success that most people dream of.”