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Kim Kardashian, Sir Tony Blair, Boris Johnson and David Beckham are among the global celebrities and political leaders in India’s financial hub this weekend for the wedding of the youngest son of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
Anant Ambani, 29, is marrying his longtime girlfriend, Radhika Merchant, in what many are calling the wedding of the year. The festivities are being held at the family-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and at their family residence, marking the climax of months of wedding events featuring performances by pop stars such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
The four-day wedding celebrations began with a traditional Hindu ceremony on Friday which will be followed by a grand reception through the weekend. The guest list includes Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H Nasser, the Kardashians, Adele, Lana Del Rey, and Drake, according to local media.
The Ambani family has not confirmed the guest list.
Police have imposed traffic diversions around the wedding venue to handle the influx of guests who will be flying into the megacity of Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding and flight disruptions for the past week.
Mukesh Ambani, 66, is the world’s ninth-richest man and has a net worth of $116bn (£89bn), according to Forbes. He is also the richest person in Asia. His Reliance Industries is a massive conglomerate, reporting over $100bn in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals, oil and gas to telecoms and retail.
The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-storey private apartment building in Mumbai that is worth $1bn. It has three helipads, a 160-car garage, and a private cinema.
Mukesh’s son Anant oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion. He also runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200-hectare) animal rescue centre in Jamnagar in Gujarat state, the family’s hometown.
The bride, Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.
Mukesh’s critics say his company has flourished mainly because of political connections forged during governments led by the Congress party in the 1970s and 80s and under prime minister Narendra Modi’s rule after 2014. They say “crony capitalism” in India has helped certain corporations, such as Mukesh’s, to thrive.
The Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations have been lavish and star-studded.
In March, they threw a three-day prenuptial bash for Anant and Radhika, with 1,200 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 featured Katy Perry singing her hit song “Firework” and a performance by Pitbull, according to media reports.
The family also organised a mass wedding for more than 50 underprivileged couples on 2 July as part of the celebrations.
Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests at a private pre-wedding concert that included performances by Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.
Mukesh Ambani also made headlines in 2018 with the celebrations surrounding his daughter Isha’s marriage, with Beyoncé performing at the pre-wedding festivities. Former US secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who rubbed shoulders with Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.
