Mumbai, April 18 (PTI): The much-awaited wedding ceremony of Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan gets underway today with a traditional "sangeet" duel choreographed by Shiamak Davar and Karan Johar.

The three-day wedding at the Bachchans' family home "Prateeksha" will see the Rais perform dance numbers set to step by Davar while Johar will have superstar Amitabh, wife Jaya and their children Abhishek and Shweta dance to his tunes.

The special wedding invite has been sent to just 200 close friends that include Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Shahrukh Khan, Dilip Kumar and socialite Parmeshwar Godrej do not find themselves in the guest list for the wedding, according to informed sources.

Select guests have been invited for the wedding but some of Amitabh's closest friends, including industrialist Anil Ambani and Tina Ambani, politician Amar Singh and Sahara head Subroto Roy, are expected to be permanent fixtures over the three days, they said.

From Bollywood, director-producer Karan Johar and his mother Hiroo, director Goldie Behl and his wife Sonali Bendre, Anupam Kher, his wife Kirron and son Sikander, Ajay Devgun, Kajol, Sanjay Dutt, Jayaprada, Dimple Kapadia, Danny Dengzongpa, Yash Chopra, his son Aditya are among the invitees.

Sachin Tendulkar, ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali are also among the invited.

The "mehendi" ceremony will be held on Thursday at Amitabh's bungalow "Jalsa" while the marriage rituals marked by traditional "saat phere" will take place on Friday at "Prateeksha".

Designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla will do the dresses for the wedding while Sufi singer Raahat Fateh Ali Khan will perform.

The food will be served by the Taj Mahal Hotel while various delicacies would be prepared under the watchful gaze of ace chef Marut Sikka.

It seems Amitabh wants to keep these special moments private as, sources said, that he has turned down a Rs 40- crore proposal from National Geography to film the wedding.

A three-tier security structure will protect the wedding venues, where Mumbai Police team will form the outermost protection ring while Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh's Black Cat commandos will provide cover in close proximity.

The Bachchans consider Amar Singh to be a member of their family and his name along with his wife Pankaja and daughters Drishti and Divya find a mention on the invitation cards.

The wedding cards also carries the names Shweta Nanda, Aishwarya's mother Vrinda and father B K Rai.

The Bachchans have taken care that the celebrations do not disturb the neighbourhood.

However, the hectic preparations at the Bachchans' residences of Jalsa and Prateeksha as well as the Rai residence in suburban Bandra tell a different story.

Since yesterday, there has been a steady stream of caterers, decorators and workers going in and out of the Bachchans' residences as preparations for the sangeet ceremony gathered steam.