"It's a Bollygood show," said a headline in the Hindustan Times newspaper over a picture of the wedding procession in Mumbai, India's entertainment capital, where thousands of fans jostled for a glimpse of the stars, who married late the previous night.

 "Reel to real: Abhi-Ash get married," said the Indian Express, a reference to the couple's nickname  "Abhiash," or India's answer to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's "Brangelina" partnership.

 The media said the pairing of the emerald-eyed former Miss World and the son of veteran Indian screen legend Amitabh Bachchan -- known just as "The big B" -- had created Bollywood's "ultimate power couple."

 Police had to use batons to control the crowd, who broke through barriers and climbed trees on Friday to try to catch a glimpse of the couple.

 "There's no monarchy in India but there are the Bachchans -- this is the dream wedding," Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman of marketing consultancy Samsika, said.

 Movie-mad Indians have been feasting on details of the couple's wedding in which Rai, 33, wore a red sari for the traditional Hindu ceremony, while the 32-year-old groom sported a ceremonial turban and gold-embroidered, cream-coloured sherwani coat.

 The ceremony kicked off at the auspicious hour of 6:13 pm on Friday with an exchange of garlands. Astrologers pored over the couple's star charts to determine the ideal time for the wedding.

 Eleven priests chanted mantras and the couple walked around a sacred fire seven times to complete their marriage.

 Billed as the "Wedding of the Year" by the media, the event was kept relatively low key out of deference to the bridegroom's grandmother, who is unwell in hospital.

 Unlike usual Indian weddings where the guest list can run into thousands, the ceremony was restricted to around 100 close family and friends such as industrialist Anil Ambani, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and some of the top Bollywood entertainment names including stars Sanjay Dutt and Preity Zinta.

 A huge security operation was deployed to keep out the media and prevent fans gate-crashing.

 The only controversy came away from the festivities, when a "mentally disturbed," small-time Bollywood actress attempted suicide by slitting her wrists ahead of the wedding, police said.

 In a scene reminiscent of a melodramatic Bollywood plot, a distraught Jhanvi Kapoor claimed that she had had "physical relations" with Abhishek and that he had promised to marry her.

 The couple who have starred together in at least five movies and are seen as a dynamite box office duo were reportedly planning to visit a temple on Saturday to bless their marriage.

 Family spokesmen were keeping mum on where the couple would honeymoon but one newspaper said they would spend a month in Venice.

 Bollywood movies have a huge following in India and around the world, especially in nations with large Indian populations such as Britain, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa.

Agence France Presse