The monsoon rains that have been soaking Bombay all week did not let up at the start of the wedding of the year being held in India's financial capital. But the red carpet was rolled out on Friday night at the luxurious Jio World Convention Center. A diverse group of international invited stars paraded through, from Kim Kardashian to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. After seven months of lavish celebrations that garnered much media attention, Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia's richest man, tied the knot with Radhika Merchant, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire.
The Jio World, with a capacity for 16,000 people, is owned by the party's patriarch, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India's largest private corporation, Reliance Industries. Ambani spared no expense to make his son's wedding a global spectacle. Money is no issue for a tycoon with a fortune that, according to Forbes, exceeds $120 billion. Ambani's extreme display of wealth has sparked public fascination but also drawn criticism in India.
Just five kilometers from the Jio World lies Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, where over a million people live crowded in an area of 239 hectares. It is a maze of narrow alleyways, many flooded these days by the monsoon, where clean water is scarce, and residents queue for communal bathrooms, one for every 1,500 residents, as most homes lack them.
The contrast between the lavish Ambani wedding and the extreme poverty of Dharavi is the perfect picture to depict the significant persistent inequalities in a mega city like Bombay, home to over 20 million people, which has become the Asian city with the highest number of billionaires. Many of them reside in luxurious skyscrapers from where they can overlook some of the 2,000 slums where 45% of the population lives.
"Such ostentatious spending is a sin against Mother Earth and the poor," criticized Thomas Isaac, a popular politician from the Communist Party in the southern region of Kerala, on social media. Local media have estimated that the Ambani family has spent over $600 million since the beginning of the year on all celebrations surrounding the wedding. Just on this weekend's nuptials, the figure would reach $150 million.
An astonishing extravagance criticized by many Indians, while for others, it represents an example of the current economic success story of the world's most populous country, where new billionaires continue to emerge and GDP growth far surpasses that of most Western countries.
Although this latter group, including many Indian analysts who have flooded the media with columns praising the Ambani's extravagance, forgets to mention that in India the top 1% owns over 40% of the wealth.
The wedding of 29-year-olds Anant and Radhika will continue until next Monday. The Friday prelude at the Jio World featured a parade of celebrities and political figures dressed in traditional attire - saris, lehengas, and kurtas - posing in front of photographers.
Although the Ambanis have tried to keep everything related to the ceremony secret, rumors in Bombay suggest that this Saturday, British singer Adele and Canadian rapper Drake will perform in front of the newlyweds and their guests.
In addition to a large number of Bollywood stars, the event was attended by former boxer Mike Tyson, wrestler John Cena, another former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and singer Nick Jonas with his wife, popular Indian actress Priyanka Chopra. Not to forget India's political and business elite, starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has always been close to the Ambani family.