Mumbai, 13-07-2024 : Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, tied the knot with pharmaceutical heiress and childhood sweetheart Radhika Merchant on Friday. The extravagant event was attended by global celebrities, politicians, top actors from Hindi and South Indian cinema, and almost all the leading cricketers of India.
The guest list boasted notable names such as reality TV stars Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian, Nigerian rapper Rema, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and global business magnates like Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Lee, and GSK plc chief executive Emma Walmsley. Dubbed as the ‘wedding of the year,’ the event was a showcase of opulence and high-profile attendees.
Prominent Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Tiger Shroff, and Varun Dhawan, attended the wedding with their families. The South Indian cinema world was represented by superstars Rajinikanth, Ram Charan, and Mahesh Babu. The cricketing fraternity was also well-represented, with icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with Krish Srikkanth and the latest sensations Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Anant, 29, married Radhika, daughter of Indian pharma tycoons Viren and Shaila Merchant, in a traditional Hindu ceremony at Mumbai’s Jio World Drive, a convention center owned by the Ambani family. The groom, dressed in a rust orange sherwani, departed from the Ambani residence, Antilia, in a luxurious red car adorned with white flowers for the venue, where the ‘baraat’ gathered for a short journey to the mandap.
The Ambani family donned outfits in pastel hues designed by Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. Mukesh Ambani, Nita Ambani, Isha Ambani and her husband Anand Piramal, and Akash Ambani followed the dress code, with Shloka Mehta being the exception, wearing a stunning hot pink lehenga adorned with crystals.
The star-studded event saw American actor and rapper John Cena, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, and Anant Ambani himself dancing in the ‘baraat.’ Shah Rukh Khan shared a dance with Nita Ambani as she and Mukesh Ambani welcomed him and his family.
The wedding was the culmination of a series of lavish parties hosted by the Ambani family since March. The couple, engaged in January 2023, celebrated with three extravagant pre-wedding events. In March, a three-day celebration in Jamnagar, Gujarat, featured tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner among the 1,200 guests, with an exclusive performance by Rihanna. The festivities included a magic show by David Blaine and a visit to the Ambani’s animal rescue center housing exotic animals.
In May, the Ambanis embarked on a four-day Mediterranean cruise, starting from Palermo, Italy, and ending in Portofino. The cruise featured on-deck concerts by the Backstreet Boys, Pitbull, and David Guetta, with a masquerade ball performance by Katy Perry at the Château de la Croix des Gardes in France. Andrea Bocelli serenaded guests in Portofino’s town square.
Last week, Justin Bieber performed at the ‘sangeet’ or musical night. The wedding celebrations spanned three days, concluding with an exclusive dinner on Saturday and a grand reception on July 14.
The Ambanis have not disclosed the wedding’s cost, but the scale of the celebration suggested significant expenditure. The invitations alone, intricate chests incorporating mini silver temples, were estimated at Rs 5-6 lakh each. Additionally, three Falcon-2000 jets were rented to ferry guests.
Rumors suggested Rihanna was paid $7 million for her performance and Bieber $10 million (close to Rs 84 crore). Mukesh Ambani, known for his lavish celebrations, had previously hosted Beyoncé at daughter Isha Ambani’s 2018 wedding and Coldplay’s Chris Martin at Akash Ambani’s pre-wedding bash in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Mukesh Ambani, 67, is currently the world’s 11th richest man, with a net worth of $119 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Over the past two decades, he has transformed Reliance Industries from an oil and petrochemicals giant into a global empire spanning telecoms, retail, financial services, cricket, and luxury fashion.
Anant Ambani, the youngest of Mukesh’s three children, is involved in Reliance’s energy businesses and sits on the board of Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation. The guest list for the wedding included former Indian president Ram Nath Kovind, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Anant wore a sherwani with a bandhgala neckline, intricate golden embroidery, front button closures adorned with precious gems, full-length sleeves, and padded shoulders, paired with white pyjamas, beige sneakers embellished with gold sequins, and a gold elephant brooch. The guests also followed the ethnic dress code, wearing designer Indian attire.
John Cena attended the wedding in a powder blue bandhgala with silver embroidery, while Rajinikanth, his daughter Soundarya, her husband, and their son wore traditional Tamil attire. The Kardashians, who arrived on Thursday to a red carpet welcome at the Taj Mahal Hotel, took an auto rickshaw ride through Mumbai’s bustling streets ahead of the wedding. They were accompanied by a team of stylists, including celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, and a group of producers to capture every detail of their trip.