Mumbai, India — The youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in AsiaMarried his longtime girlfriend on Saturday morning in what many called the wedding of the year, attended by global celebrities, business moguls and politicians, highlighting the billionaire’s impressive wealth and growing influence.
The wedding rituals, including the couple exchanging garlands and walking around the sacred fire, began Friday and concluded after midnight.
Anant Ambani’s wedding celebrations with Radhika Merchant took place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai and at the family home. The wedding culminated months of wedding events that featured performances from pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
The four-day wedding celebrations, which kicked off on Friday with the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony, will be followed by a grand reception that will last throughout the weekend. The guest list included former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to local media. The Ambani family has not confirmed the guest list.
Television news channels showed celebrities such as Kim Kardashian in a red ensemble and professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena arriving.
The international guests also wore traditional dresses by top Indian designers. They wore embroidered “sherwanis,” a long-sleeved coat worn by men in South Asia. Cena came in a sky blue sherwani and white pants. Nick Jonas wore a pink sherwani and white pants.
Police imposed traffic diversions around the wedding venue from Friday to Monday to deal with the influx of guests flying into Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains caused flooding and flight disruptions last week.
The extravagance and display of opulence that accompanies the wedding has led many to raise questions about rising inequality in India, where the gap between rich and poor is widening. The event also sparked anger among some Mumbaikars, who say they are struggling with congested traffic.
“It affects our earnings. I don’t care much about marriage,” said Vikram, a taxi driver who uses only his first name.
The groom’s father, Mukesh Ambani, is the ninth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes. He is the richest person in Asia. His Reliance Industries is a conglomerate that reports more than $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests that include petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications and retail.
The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family complex in Mumbai, worth $1 billion. The building contains three helipads, a garage for 160 cars and a private cinema.
The groom, Anant, 29, 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, also 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 relied on political connections during governments led by the Congress party in the 1970s and 1980s and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi after 2014.
The Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations were lavish and star-studded.
In March, they played a three-day prenuptial party for Anant, which featured 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 2nd as part of the celebrations.
Last week, Justin Bieber performed in front of hundreds of guests at a pre-wedding concert that included performances from Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.
Ambani also made headlines in 2018 when Beyoncé performed at his daughter’s 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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