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Bollywood couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan travelled through New Zealand before heading to Bora Bora in French Polynesia for their honeymoon.
The couple were spotted on a Singapore Airlines flight into Auckland but a source told nzherald.co.nz this morning that the couple never exited the airport.
Abhishek Bachchan is said to be a fan of New Zealand, after shooting the film Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon in the South Island five years ago.
The couple, who married in Mumbai 10 days ago in an affair hyped by Indian media as the "wedding of the century", were ushered off a Singapore Airlines flight through a separate entrance from other business class passengers on arrival in Auckland.
A woman passenger on the flight, who did not want to be named, said she was asked in Singapore if she would mind giving up her front-row business class seat so a "young honeymoon celebrity couple" and their two security personnel could sit together.
The passenger, who had seen pictures of the couple on a trip to Malaysia and Singapore, recognised Bachchan, a romantic hero and son of an Indian cinema legend.
She recognised the bride because she had seen her acting with New Zealander Martin Henderson in the 2004 film Bride and Prejudice in which Bollywood tackles Jane Austen.
Film-crazy India held its breath when Bachchan married the emerald-eyed former Miss World.
Hundreds of fans cheered as Bachchan, wearing a gold and cream turban - his face covered with a veil of white flowers - emerged on to the streets outside his home astride a white stallion, giving admirers the thumbs-up while friends danced around him.
