The estimated cost of over 600 million dollars makes it the most extravagant wedding spectacle in the last decade. This expense barely represents 0.5% of the fortune of the patriarch of the Ambani clan. It has been seven months of luxurious celebrations culminating this weekend with the wedding of the youngest son of Asia's richest man and the daughter of a pharmaceutical magnate.
The always chaotic Bombay came to a standstill this Friday for the highly anticipated wedding of the year in India. Anant Ambani (29), son of Mukesh Ambani, the Indian-Yemeni billionaire who heads the Reliance Industries empire, is marrying his longtime girlfriend, Radhika Merchant (29), director of the Indian division of the pharmaceutical multinational Encore Healthcare.
The ceremony will last three days and will feature celebrities from various parts of the world. The Ambanis have chartered a fleet of hundreds of private planes to bring their guests. In addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the most well-known Bollywood stars, and the most influential entrepreneurs in the country, David and Victoria Beckham and Kim and Khloé Kardashian have landed in India's financial capital. Renowned political figures such as Hillary Clinton, Boris Johnson, and Tony Blair are also in attendance.
The wedding details have been kept secret, but some Indian media outlets have reported that the event will feature performances by top international artists like the British Adele and the Canadian rapper Drake.
Many Bombay residents have protested the closed roads and heavy traffic congestion around the event venue, the luxurious Jio World Convention Center owned by the Ambanis. Other events will take place at Antilia, the exclusive 27-story tower where Mukesh Ambani and his family reside. It features three helipads, a garage with 168 luxury cars, a cinema, a massive spa, and a party hall that often hosts gatherings of the wealthiest businessmen and most powerful politicians in the country.
Thousands of floral decorations and lights adorn the steep street where the Ambani tower is located. From above, one can see the stark contrasts of Bombay: dozens of skyscrapers rising just meters away from slums.
The extreme opulence of the wedding has once again highlighted the enormous inequalities in the world's most populous country, where the top 1% owns over 40% of the wealth in a nation where, according to Oxfam's latest report, over 200 million people still live in poverty.
The entire Ambani family, this Friday, at the start of the lavish wedding celebrations.AFP
India's rapid economic development is giving rise to many new billionaires and boosting Ambani's estimated $120 billion fortune, primarily due to the expansion of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate with interests in oil, gas, fashion, telecommunications, and retail. Ambani, who never hesitates to flaunt his wealth, previously hosted India's most expensive wedding in 2018: a $100 million event for his daughter Isha, featuring a performance by Beyoncé.
Anant and Radhika's wedding has generated much excitement following the fabulous celebrations surrounding the couple since the beginning of the year. It started with a grand community feast for 51,000 neighbors in the western state of Gujarat, the Ambani family's homeland. This was followed by a three-day extravaganza with 1,200 guests, including Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), featuring a performance by Rihanna.
In June, they booked a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean for 800 people that started in Barcelona and featured live performances by the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, Pitbull, and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. All of this cost around $150 million. Last week, at the final pre-wedding party in Bombay, Justin Bieber charged around 10 million for a private concert for hundreds of guests.