‘No One Knew It Was Happening’: Karan Johar Recalls Anushka Sharma–Virat Kohli’s Covert Wedding In Italy

Long before intimate destination weddings became aspirational templates across India, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli quietly pulled off what many in the industry now call a logistical miracle. In December 2017, the couple married in Italy without leaks, paparazzi, or whispers — a feat that stunned both fans and the wedding industry alike. Eight years on, their wedding continues to be cited as the moment that fundamentally altered how high-profile Indian weddings are imagined and executed.

“A Covert Operation”: How No One Saw It Coming

Speaking on The Manyavar and Mohey Show with Karan Johar, Pulkit Samrat and Kriti Kharbanda, the couple’s wedding planner Devika Narain revisited the scale of secrecy that surrounded Anushka and Virat’s nuptials.

Johar himself described it as nothing short of a covert mission, noting how the entire country woke up to wedding pictures without a single prior hint.

Reflecting on its impact, Karan said, “The texture and DNA of weddings, especially destination weddings, has changed. I would give absolute credit to the Anushka-Virat wedding. I remember the whole country woke up to this wedding no one knew was happening. It was a covert operation almost. There wasn’t even a single hint that something like this was going to happen. From her wedding walk to this location, and just them — everybody fell in love.”

Logistics, Not Luxury, Was the Real Game-Changer

Addressing what truly drove the cost and complexity of the wedding, Devika Narain explained that it wasn’t opulence, but logistics that shaped the event. According to her, the wedding altered mindsets because it proved that couples didn’t need to follow inherited templates anymore.

“Logistics is pretty much it,” she said. “Why that wedding changed the gambit was because people realised they could do whatever they wanted at weddings.”

Choosing Personal Choice Over Parental Playbooks

Narain added that Anushka and Virat’s approach triggered a generational shift in how weddings are planned. Until then, many couples deferred entirely to family traditions and parental expectations. That wedding, she said, quietly gave people permission to choose differently.

“I think that was the biggest change because before that, people were just listening to their parents about how things happen at weddings,” she explained. “People started thinking that they did it in their own way — can we also do whatever we want?”

Eight Years On, Still Setting the Standard

Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli tied the knot on December 11, 2017, after four years of dating. Since then, they’ve welcomed two children — daughter Vamika in 2021 and son Akaay in 2024. Today, the couple largely lives in London, choosing distance from constant attention in an effort to give their children a more grounded upbringing.

Yet, despite the years that have passed, their wedding remains a cultural reference point — not for grandeur, but for restraint, intention, and the quiet confidence of doing things entirely on their own terms.