Rent a Guest
No Indian wedding is complete without a small army of extended family and friends showing up. Its a testament to the prestige of the families involved. But what if you don’t know that many people. You don’t have to worry, you can rent your guests. The BBC reports:
The Best Guests Agency has around 70 people on its books. They can turn up either traditionally dressed or in smart Western clothes, and are briefed on family history and pretend to be friends from the past.
Who are these pretend friends?
Some of the guests for hire are students, but others are doctors, chartered accountants, and other professionals.
“You might wonder why doctors want to come,” Mr Syed said.
“But I suppose they don’t mind having a nice evening out, and I pay them well.”
The amount charged per guest is varied according to what Mr Syed described as the “level” required, and how smartly it is wished that they dress.
Three categories are offered, with the highest - at around 600 rupees - being be-suited guests who are tall, well-built, light-skinned and who can converse well.
Mr. Syed says none of his “guests” have ever been outed. If you can hire mourners for a funeral why not guests for a wedding?
September 20th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
ha ha ha, quite funny! wish i get an ‘invite’ for such a function; free food, booze(i hope!) and 600 bucks to top it all!
on a serious note, what a waste of money. why can’t these people donate instead of doiong this showbazee!
September 21st, 2005 at 10:44 am
[…] 3 EDT South Asia India Global Roundups Shaswati’s Blog has an interesting post on guests who get paid to come to weddings. Neha Viswanathan & […]
September 21st, 2005 at 2:05 pm
Irrepressible entrepreneurship
The BBC reports (via Sashwati’s Blog) that Indians with an embarrassingly small guest list can hire extra guests. The service sounds top-notch:The Best Guests Agency has around 70 people on its books. They can turn up either traditionally dressed or i…
September 21st, 2005 at 4:38 pm
In India, (I don’t know about other countries) one can also get professional mourners if there are few mourners for a death. I haven’t seen the film, but in Rudali the leading lady was a professional mourner.
October 14th, 2005 at 1:58 pm
[…] A Curly Tail Case Study: Business based on Simple Things. I saw the blog entry by Shaswati in her blog about a BBC report on “Renting Guests to Indian Weddings”. […]
October 14th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
It is now a difficult problem for some to assemble large crowds to their weddings. Mr.Syed, found the opportunity here and is “Renting Guests” to these weddings. Mr.Syed sure started this business with the simplest of tools (nothing) and filled a trivial need (vanity) and has the opportunity to make this big if he can turn this into a franchise all over the country.
If this business can provide an easy web portal for people to register, classify and offer means to the wedding planners to select individual guests this sure can turn viral. I call this The Curly Tail
November 28th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
hmmm strange… they say money can’t buy you happiness, but now it can definitely buy you a room full of friends.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Well it seems really funny but intresting too….really a new concept with part time earing and lots of fun.
…… I salute this mind who innovate this idea. coz of nuclear families and busy schedules no body have time to be socialzed so it make people happiest on special occasions.