The LaLiT Great Eastern Kolkata Celebrates Pure Love with a Grand Fake Wedding
In a bold and joy-filled statement on love and equality, The LaLiT Great Eastern Kolkata hosts Pure Love’s Fake Wedding — a vibrant celebration of queer love in a country where marriage equality remains a dream.
By Rachna Virdi
In 2023, India’s Supreme Court stopped short of legalising same-sex marriage, leaving recognition to Parliament — a gap that events like Pure Love’s Fake Wedding poignantly highlight. A Kitty Su Pop-Up by The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group, it is an ode to celebration, reminding us that love needs no validation from the law — only celebration from the heart.
The fake wedding event, organised in collaboration with the Keshav Suri Foundation, is all set to take place on 22 November at The LaLiT Great Eastern Kolkata, reclaiming the joy and rituals of marriage — not through legality, but through pride, couture, chaos, and confetti.
Keshav Suri, Executive Director at The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group and LGBTQ+ activist reflects on the inspiration behind this wedding event, “Love is love — and everyone deserves the chance to celebrate it freely. Even though queer marriages aren’t legally recognised in India yet, we wanted to create a space where people would still choose happiness, choose to celebrate their love, and choose to feel seen. Pure Love’s Fake Wedding is about joy, laughter, colours, confetti, and being surrounded by friends, family, and most importantly — your chosen family. It’s a night where queer people can simply be themselves and celebrate on their own terms.”
Reclaiming the Rituals of Marriage
The symbolic wedding is a playful yet profound celebration, giving queer people the chance to experience the beauty, laughter, and community that weddings bring — even without legal recognition.
Besides a vibrant artist lineup to keep spirits high and hearts open, the night will showcase a full-fledged fake wedding baraat in true wedding grandeur, and a host of playful wedding rituals brought to life in Pure Love’s signature queer style. The space will be adorned with traditional Bengali wedding décor, blending nostalgia with bold, modern expression, and balancing cultural heritage with modern queer identity.
Keshav Suri explains that the idea was to blend the warmth of Bengali wedding traditions with the creativity of queer expression — honouring culture while embracing identity. “We wanted this event to feel deeply rooted yet completely free. Bengali weddings carry a sense of nostalgia and warmth — the mehendi, the baraat, the décor represent community and togetherness. By weaving those familiar traditions with the boldness and creativity of queer expression, we’re celebrating a balance between culture and choice. It’s about honouring where we come from while embracing who we are, blending the timeless beauty of heritage with the unapologetic freedom of identity.”
Keshav Suri hopes events like these will have an impact on acceptance, and the broader conversation about queer rights in India. “We hope India embraces marriage equality soon — where people can celebrate their love and relationships not through symbolic or ‘fake’ weddings, but through legally recognised marriages. Marriage comes with a bouquet of rights and protections that every couple deserves, and extending that to queer people will bring true equality before the law,” he says.
Keshav Suri, Executive Director at The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group and LGBTQ+ activist.
Pure Love’s Fake Wedding is about joy, laughter, colours, confetti, and being surrounded by friends, family, and most importantly — your chosen family. It’s a night where queer people can simply be themselves and celebrate on their own terms.
Keshav Suri
Executive Director, The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group & LGBTQ+ activist
Keeping Queer Culture Alive
Over the years, Kitty Su and the Keshav Suri Foundation have been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ advocacy in India. Kitty Su Pop-Up by The LaLiT Suri Hospitality Group has kept queer culture alive in Kolkata through its Pure Love Nights — LGBTQIA+ affirmative evenings that welcome everyone, irrespective of gender or identity. These events have become an evolving canvas for diversity, creativity, and acceptance, celebrating individuality in all its hues.
“At the Keshav Suri Foundation (KSF), our vision is to embrace, empower, and mainstream the LGBTQIA+ community in India — through economic independence, skilling, opportunities to thrive, and by driving policy change and supporting queer organisations across the country,” he says adding, “For us, inclusive celebrations like these are about creating spaces where everyone — queer or not — feels welcome, valued, and celebrated. We want to expand this sense of joy and belonging into every ecosystem. The message is simple yet powerful: celebrate each other, embrace differences, and always choose love.”
The group envisions expanding the idea of inclusive celebrations and spreading a message to society for shaping social change. “At Kitty Su and The LaLiT, we have always believed in #PureLove. As a proud Indian organisation, the principles of diversity and inclusion are not just part of our culture — they’re embedded in our DNA. Through Pure Love’s Fake Wedding, we want to remind everyone that love is a choice, joy is a choice, and celebration is a choice. Even when the law or the world takes time to catch up, The LaLiT will always be your biggest ally and home, KSF your family, and Kitty Su your friend — a safe space where everyone belongs. This event is a celebration of life, pride, and freedom — a confetti-filled reminder that everyone deserves to love and be loved, equally and proudly.”
As India continues to debate marriage equality, events like Pure Love’s Fake Wedding stand as both celebration and statement — a reminder that queer love and joy deserve not just recognition, but celebration in full colour.
