A-listers fly in as Asia’s richest man marries in the year’s most extravagant wedding

Mumbai: The youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, has married his longtime girlfriend in what many dubbed the wedding of the year, attended by global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians, highlighting the billionaire’s staggering wealth and rising clout.

The wedding rituals, including exchanging garlands by the couple and walking around the sacred fire, began Friday and were completed past midnight.

The celebrations of Anant Ambani marrying Radhika Merchant took place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and the family home. The marriage culminated months of wedding events that featured performances by pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.

The four-day wedding celebrations began Friday with the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony and will be followed by a grand reception to run through the weekend. The guest list includes former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson; Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser; and Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to local media. The Ambani family did not confirm the guest list.

Television news channels showed celebrities like Kim Kardashian in a red ensemble and professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena arriving.

Kardashian sisters Kim and Khloé took a ride in a motorised rickshaw through bustling Mumbai streets Friday before joining the wedding ceremonies, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

International guests wore traditional clothes by major Indian fashion designers. They put on embroidered sherwanis — long-sleeved outer coats 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 handle the influx of guests who will be flying into Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding and flight disruptions for the past week.

At the eleventh hour the wedding did develop more political overtones with posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lining the road to the venue.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, centre, takes his son Anant Ambani by the hand as they walk with Nita Ambani, right, at the wedding.Credit: AP

“Heartfelt welcome to India’s beloved and respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai,” read the dozens of posters recently erected by his ruling party workers along the road to Ambani’s Reliance Industries-owned Jio World Convention Centre.

Modi is visiting the Mumbai area to inaugurate “a project” and may briefly attend the Ambani wedding, said Manoj Shinde, a police official from the traffic department of the Bandra Kurla Complex district where the venue is located.

The posters were not installed by Modi’s party but may have been put up by some “excited party workers”, said Keshav Upadhye, the state’s chief spokesperson of Modi’s ruling party.

Modi has faced much criticism from Indian opposition leaders who say he is too close to tycoons like Ambani, allegations that the prime minister and his government have denied.

American actor and professional wrestler John Cena gestures as he arrives at the wedding.Credit: AP

The extravaganza and the display of opulence that comes with this wedding has, however, led many to raise questions about rising inequality in India, where the gap between the rich and poor is growing. The event has also sparked anger among some Mumbai residents who say they were struggling with snarled traffic.

“It affects our earnings. I don’t care much about the wedding,” said Vikram, a taxi driver who only uses his first name.

The father of the groom, Mukesh Ambani, 66, is the world’s ninth richest man with a net worth of $US116 billion ($171 billion), according to Forbes. He is also the richest person in Asia. His Reliance Industries is a massive conglomerate, reporting over $US100 billion in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals, and oil and gas to telecoms and retail.

The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family compound in Mumbai worth $US1 billion. The building contains three helipads, a 160-car garage and a private movie theatre.

Ambani’s son, Anant, oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion. He also runs a 1200-hectare animal rescue centre in Gujarat state’s Jamnagar, the family’s hometown.

The bride, Radhika Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.

Ambani’s critics say his company has relied on political connections during Congress party-led governments in the 1970s and ’80s and under Modi’s rule after 2014.

The Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations have been lavish and star-studded.

In March, they threw a three-day prenuptial bash for his son with 1200 guests including former world leaders, tech tycoons and Bollywood megastars, and performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who shot to international fame when he performed at Coachella. The event was also attended by tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.

It was the start of lavish months-long pre-wedding celebrations that have grabbed headlines and set off a social media frenzy.

In May, the family took guests on a three-day cruise from Italy to France which included Katy Perry singing her hit song Firework and a performance by Pitbull.

The family also organised a mass wedding for more than 50 underprivileged couples on July 2 as part of the celebrations.

Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a pre-wedding concert.

Ambani also made headlines in 2018 when Beyoncé performed at pre-wedding festivities for his daughter.

AP

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