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The son of Asia’s richest man is set to marry in the most extravagant wedding of the year
MUMBAI, India — Global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians began arriving in India’s financial capital on Friday to attend the wedding of the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asiahighlighting the billionaire’s impressive wealth and growing influence.
Anant Ambani, 29, is marrying his longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant in what many have dubbed the wedding of the year. The celebrations are taking place at Ambani’s Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and at the family home, and are the culmination of months of wedding events that have featured performances by pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
The four-day wedding celebrations will begin with a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on Friday, followed by a grand reception that will take place over the weekend. The guest list includes 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 and professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena arriving.
Police imposed traffic diversions around the wedding venue from Friday to Monday to cope 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 accompanying the wedding, however, has prompted many to raise questions about growing inequality in India, where the gap between rich and poor is growing. The event has also sparked anger among some Mumbai residents who say they were struggling with traffic congestion.
“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, 66, is the ninth-richest man in the world, with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes. He is also the richest person in Asia. His Reliance Industries is a massive conglomerate, reporting more than $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals and oil and gas to telecommunications and retail.
The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family compound in Mumbai valued at $1 billion. The building contains three helipads, a 160-car garage and a private cinema.
Ambani’s son, Anant, oversees the conglomerate’s expansion into renewable and green energy. He also runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200 hectares) animal rescue center in Jamnagar in the family’s hometown of Gujarat.
The bride, Radhika Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical magnate Viren Merchant and is the chief marketing officer of his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.
Ambani’s critics say his company relied on political connections during Congress-led governments 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 released a three-day pre-wedding party for his son with 1,200 guests, including former world leaders, tech moguls and Bollywood megastars, and performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who gained international fame when he performed at Coachella. The event was also attended by tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
It was the beginning of lavish pre-wedding celebrations that lasted for months and made headlines and triggered 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 “Firework” and a performance by Pitbull, according to media reports.
The family also organised a mass wedding for over 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 that included performances by Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.
Ambani also made headlines in 2018 when Beyoncé performed at pre-wedding festivities for his daughter. Former US secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who met Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.