NEW DELHI — In March, Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, launched a three-day prenuptial party for his son, which included a 1,200-strong guest list including former world leaders, technology moguls and Bollywood megastars, and a performance by renowned singer Rihanna.
It was just the beginning of their lavish, months-long pre-wedding celebrations that made headlines and sparked a social media frenzy.
In May, the family took guests on a 3-day pre-wedding cruise from Italy to France, which included a DJ set from David Guetta, Katy Perry singing her hit “Firework” and a performance from Pitbull to close it out. according to media reports.
Finally, the wedding is set for next week, with Anant Ambani, 29, tying the knot with his longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant in what many have dubbed the wedding of the year.
Here’s what we know:
The groom’s father is Mukesh Ambani, 66, currently the ninth richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$116 billion, according to Forbes. He is also the richest person in Asia.
His Reliance Industries is a huge conglomerate, reporting more than $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals and oil and gas to telecommunications and retail.
The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story private apartment building called Antila, valued at $1 billion in Mumbai. It has three helipads, a garage for 160 cars, a private cinema, swimming pool and gym.
Ambani’s critics say his company flourished largely due to political connections during the Congress governments in the 1970s and 1980s and later under Prime Minister Narendra Modi after 2014. They say “crony capitalism ” in India has helped certain companies, like Ambani’s, to prosper. .
The family patriarch began passing the torch to his two sons and daughter. The eldest son, Akash Ambani, is now chairman of Reliance Jio, his telecommunications company; His daughter Isha oversees the retail business, while her fiancé Anant, the youngest, has been inducted into the new energy business.
Anant holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, according to Reliance Industries’ website, and oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion.
He also runs a 3,000-acre (nearly 1,200 hectare) animal rescue center called Vantara in Jamnagar in the family’s hometown of Gujarat state, where guests in March spent days celebrating at the extravagant pre-wedding party.
The bride, Radhika Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and the marketing director of his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.
She told the magazine that the two were introduced by mutual friends in 2017. “That first meeting sparked something special between us and it didn’t take long for us to start dating,” she said.
The main wedding ceremony is scheduled for July 12, followed by a grand reception on July 14, according to local media. The celebrations are expected to be split between Ambani’s Jio World Convention Center in the city of Mumbai and his family home.
The dates were chosen based on the couple’s birth charts, as is typical of Hindu custom, and considered auspicious. Also keeping with tradition, the wedding will be preceded by days of traditional wedding events and rituals.
On Friday, Indian social media was buzzing with videos of the couple’s sangeet, a ceremony in which the bride and groom’s families dance for the guests. It also included performances from Bollywood stars such as Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan, as well as Justin Bieber, who flew to Mumbai for the event, according to local media.
The family also organized a mass wedding to over 50 couples in need last week as part of pre-wedding celebrations.
Extravagant parties are the Ambanis’ specialty and next week’s events are expected to attract more celebrities, billionaires and world leaders.
In March, for the pre-wedding party, the guest list included Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, former leaders of Canada and Qatar, as well as A-list Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. In addition to Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who achieved international fame when he performed at Coachella, also took the stage.
In 2018, when his daughter got married, Ambani made headlines for the big celebrations, with pop sensation Beyoncé performing at the pre-wedding festivities. At the time, former US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who rubbed shoulders with Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.
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