Marriage - Hindu vs SPecial Marriage Act?

Hi All,
I am an Indian citizen, my wife (would be) is also same. Both Hindus. We intend to permanently stay in India only.
Which marriage act we should follow? Hindu or Special Marriage Act?
Is either of them obligatory?
What are other differences?
My internet search seems to tell either of them is ok, Hindu act is solemnization of social marriage (which we shall have anyway) and other is legal marriage (irrespective of any other form of marriage). However there seems to be no clue if they implies some difference in any other areas.
Thanks a lot for any information.
regards.

The "Terms and conditions" are different. The rights (and "wrongs" maybe) are different.

Marriage is a contract: you should both be happy with the terms of the contract, and you should remember that the wording of a contract only matters if and when things go wrong.

Thus, there is no right answer, except the one that you and your fiance agree upon after reading the acts.

ohh, I thought Marriage is a mutual understanding with consideration. it comes under Contract?

Thank you for both the answers.

Dek, your point leads to a bigger philosophical area, with a quick reflection my take for my case is its both; I am willing to get more opinions but after the mechanics part of it is made clear.

Nick, can you please help with the differences in the rights? I sense neither of the act is "obligatory", so what are the differences, both in cases of happiness and unhappiness?

regards.

What millions of indians similar to you, do every year when they get married ? Just follow the same pattern.

http://www.igrs.ap.gov.in/ Look underActs in the Citizen Services pull-down menu.

I am hindu and so is my husband. We too intend to permanently stay in India only.

We got married by the special marriage act. In our case it was because of logistics. We too had a full scale social marriage

You can get married either way. The only extra step in case of the SMA is the notice that has to be given 30 days prior to the wedding.

The hindu marriage act and the SMA are mostly similar.

Thank you Nayan