Mumbai, India — Global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians began arriving in India’s financial capital on Friday to attend the wedding of India’s youngest son. Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, highlighting the billionaire’s impressive wealth and growing influence.
Anant Ambani, 29, will marry his long-time girlfriend Radhika Merchant in what many consider the wedding of the year. The celebrations will take place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai and at his family home, and are the culmination of months of wedding events that have featured performances from pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
The four-day wedding celebrations begin with a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on Friday, followed by a grand reception throughout the weekend. The guest list includes former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser, the Kardashians, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to local media.
The Ambani family has not confirmed the guest list.
Police imposed traffic diversions from Friday to Monday around the wedding venue to deal with the influx of guests flying into the megacity of Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains caused flooding and flight disruptions last week.
The groom’s father, Mukesh Ambani, 66, is the ninth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $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 valued at $1 billion in Mumbai. It has three helipads, a garage for 160 cars and a private cinema.
Ambani’s son Anant oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion. He also runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200 hectares) animal rescue center in Jamnagar, in the state of Gujarat, the family’s hometown.
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.
Ambani’s critics say his company flourished largely due to political connections during Congress party-led governments in the 1970s and 1980s and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi after 2014. They say “crony capitalism” ” in India helped certain corporations, like Ambani’s. , flourish.
The Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations were lavish and star-studded.
In March, they played a three-day prenuptial party for his son with 1,200 guests, including former world leaders, technology moguls and Bollywood megastars, and performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who achieved international fame when he performed at Coachella. The event was also attended by technology billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
It was the start of lavish, months-long pre-wedding celebrations that made headlines and sparked a social media frenzy.
In May, the family took guests on a three-day cruise from Italy to France that included Katy Perry singing her hit “Firework” and a performance by Pitbull, according to media reports.
The family also organized a mass wedding for over 50 needy couples on July 2 as part of the celebrations.
Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a private pre-wedding concert that included performances from Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.
Ambani also made headlines in 2018 when his daughter got married because of the big celebrations, with Beyoncé performing at the pre-wedding festivities. 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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