Celebrities gather in India for the year’s most lavish wedding celebration
In the western Indian town of Jamnagar, a grand pre-wedding celebration for Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, has drawn billionaires, top Silicon Valley executives, and international celebrities. The three-day event is being held in Gujarat, home to the world’s largest oil refinery, owned by Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
Among the high-profile attendees are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has been on a multi-day visit to India, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, along with Meta chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Both Pichai and Zuckerberg have made significant investments in Reliance’s digital business. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen is also present, representing the tech giants from Silicon Valley.
Disney CEO Bob Iger, who recently announced the merger of Disney’s India business with Reliance Industries, is another notable guest. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Saudi oil giant Aramco and governor of the country’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, which invested $1.3 billion in Reliance’s retail business, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan Al Jaber, whose company announced a $2 billion joint venture with Reliance in 2022, are also on the guest list.
Ivanka Trump, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel are among the other prominent figures attending the event. Indian business moguls such as Gautam Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sunil Mittal, and members of the Godrej Family are also expected to be present.
The pre-wedding bash is set to feature performances by international stars like singer Rihanna and magician David Blaine, along with Bollywood celebrities. Indian film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Ranbir Kapoor have already arrived in Jamnagar to join the festivities. Rihanna and her troupe are reportedly being paid $9 million to perform at the event.
Anant Ambani, 29, is marrying his longtime girlfriend, Radhika Merchant, in what many are calling the wedding of the year. The celebrations are taking place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and their family home. The four-day wedding festivities begin with a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony, followed by a grand reception that will run through the weekend.
The guest list includes former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser, and celebrities like Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake, and David Beckham. Television news channels have shown celebrities like Kim Kardashian and professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena arriving in Mumbai.
The Ambani family is known for their extravagant weddings. In 2018, Mukesh Ambani’s older daughter Isha Ambani married Anand Piramal, son of billionaire and pharma tycoon Ajay Piramal. The pre-wedding celebration for Isha included attendees like Hillary Clinton, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, and featured a 45-minute private performance by Beyonce. A year later, Isha’s twin Akash married Shloka Mehta, with a pre-wedding bash that included a live performance by Coldplay and high-profile guests like former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The current wedding celebrations have led to traffic diversions around the venue from Friday to Monday to manage the influx of guests flying into Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding and flight disruptions. The opulence of the event has sparked discussions about rising inequality in India, where the gap between the rich and poor is growing. Some Mumbai residents have expressed frustration over the traffic snarls caused by the event. Vikram, a taxi driver, said, “It affects our earnings. I don’t care much about the wedding.”
Mukesh Ambani, 66, is the world’s ninth richest man with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes. His conglomerate, Reliance Industries, reports over $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals and oil and gas to telecoms and retail. The Ambani family owns a 27-story family compound in Mumbai worth $1 billion, which includes three helipads, a 160-car garage, and a private movie theater.
As the celebrations continue, the world watches in awe at the sheer scale and grandeur of the event, a testament to the Ambani family’s staggering wealth and influence.
Source: Associated Press, Forbes
