'Kumbh Beauty' Monalisa Weds Farman Khan in Kerala After Family Drama

The simple ceremony took place around 5.45 p.m., only hours after the couple had approached the Thampanoor Police Station seeking protection following opposition from the woman's family.

Present on the occasion was M. V. Govindan, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Just before the wedding, Kerala's Education Minister V. Sivankutty, who hails from the locality near the temple, remarked that the development reflected the true spirit of the state.

"This is the real Kerala story where people of different backgrounds can live happily and peacefully," he said.

Monalisa, who shot to social media fame during the Maha Kumbh Mela, had been in Kerala for the shooting of a film marking her entry into cinema.

The shoot was underway in coastal locations around Vizhinjam and Poovar when the dispute involving her family surfaced.

According to police sources, the couple reached the police station earlier in the day after Monalisa alleged that her family was trying to forcibly take her back home and pressure her into marrying another relative.

Her relationship with Farman reportedly began about 18 months back through Facebook, but the interfaith relationship met with strong resistance from her family.

Monalisa, a native of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and Farman Khan, who hails from Maharashtra, told police that they had chosen Kerala partly because they anticipated facing serious opposition elsewhere in the country.

Following her complaint, police summoned her father, Jai Singh Bhosle, and explained that since Monalisa had attained the age of 18, she had the legal right to decide whom she wished to live with.

By evening, what began as a plea for protection ended with a quiet temple wedding by the sea, turning a tense family dispute into a story of personal choice and a new beginning.

- IANS