The star-studded wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of the “unreal” Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, sparked outrage, with many people slamming the exorbitant display of wealth. From days-long pre-wedding celebrations, which included performances by Rihanna and Andrea Bocelli, to the nuptials hosting Boris Johnson and the Kardashians, Anant and Radhika Merchant’s love bashes were highly criticized.
Highlights
- Anant Ambani's wedding sparked outrage for its extravagant display of wealth.
- Guests included high-profile celebrities like Kim Kardashian, John Cena, and Nick Jonas.
- Pre-wedding festivities featured performances by Rihanna and Andrea Bocelli.
- The Ambanis' lavish celebrations highlighted India's growing income inequality.
The youngest son of Asia’s richest man married his longtime girlfriend, pharmaceutical heiress Radhika, with wedding rituals extending throughout the whole weekend.
The couple kicked off their ceremony on Friday (July 12), where they exchanged garlands and walked around a sacred fire, as per Hindu traditions, wrapping up their celebratory events that had kicked off in December 2023 with a wedding reception on Sunday (July 14).
Anant and Radhika’s matrimonial festivities took place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India, and a family home.
The star-studded wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of the “unreal” Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, sparked outrage
Image credits: Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket
Image credits: Bhushan Koyande/Hindustan Times
The guest list included former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson; John Kerry, the former US special envoy for climate, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser; and Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake, and David Beckham, according to local media.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday (July 13) that the Ambani family did not confirm the guest list. However, television news channels showed the arrival of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and John Cena.
Kardashian sisters Kim and Khloé reportedly took a ride in a motorized rickshaw through bustling Mumbai streets Friday before joining the wedding ceremonies.
Many people slammed the exorbitant display of wealth
Image credits: TimesAlgebraIND
Bollywood icons Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor reportedly also attended the wedding and danced to popular Hindi movie songs.
Additionally, Indian cricketers, including icons Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav, were among the invitees.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi blessed the newlyweds at the Saturday reception, The Hindu reported on Monday (July 15).
Pre-wedding celebrations included performances by Rihanna and Andrea Bocelli
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“This is the final and the most auspicious ceremony and the last wedding in our family,” The Times of India newspaper quoted Mukesh, whose family didn’t say how much they spent on the festivities that have been going on for months.
Police imposed traffic diversions around the wedding venue from Friday to Monday to handle the influx of guests who flew to Mumbai, where heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding and flight disruptions for the past week, the AP reported.
Anger among some Mumbai residents was unveiled over the weekend, as some reportedly said they were struggling with snarled traffic.
The nuptials hosted many celebrities, including John Cena
Image credits: Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times
“It affects our earnings. I don’t care much about the wedding,” Vikram, a taxi driver who uses only one name, told the AP.
This isn’t the first time that the Ambanis have made headlines for a lavish marriage. In 2018, the family hosted the most expensive Indian wedding to date for Mukesh’s daughter, Isha, at a reported cost of almost $100 million.
The opulence of the latest Ambani wedding caused discomfort for those who find the display of wealth jarring in a country with soaring income inequality under the rise of Indian billionaires, Time reported on Friday.
Kardashian sisters Kim and Khloé reportedly took a ride in a motorized rickshaw through bustling Mumbai streets
Image credits: kimkardashian
“The magnificence of this wedding is evocative of existing, and widening, inequality in India and the cultural ease with which this privilege is sometimes flaunted,” Anuradha Sajjanhar, author of The New Experts: Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi's India, told Time.
In addition to being the richest person in Asia, Mukesh is the world’s ninth-richest man, with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes.
His Reliance Industries is a conglomerate reporting over $100 billion in annual revenue, with interests that include petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecoms, and retail.
The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family compound in Mumbai worth $1 billion. The building contains three helipads, a 160-car garage, and a private movie theater.
Anant oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion. He also runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200-hectare) animal rescue center in Gujarat state’s Jamnagar, the family’s hometown.
Meanwhile, Radhika is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra were also wedding guests
Image credits: Prodip Guha/Getty Images
Today, India’s richest 1% own around 40% of the country’s wealth, according to Credit Suisse data cited by a 2023 Oxfam report, while more than 200 million people continue to live in poverty.
One study by the World Inequality Lab in March found that the gap between India’s rich and poor is now so wide that, by some measures, there was more equality in India under British colonial rule than today.
The report goes on to call it a “Billionaire Raj.” While the Ambanis’ display of wealth has “always bordered on caricature, both real and unreal.”
Millions of middle-class and impoverished Indians spend their lives saving for their children's weddings. As a result, some view the extravagant wedding festivities of the Ambanis as having a positive impact.
“To a certain extent, there's an aspirational and entrepreneurial glory attached to their level of wealth,” author Anuradha told Time.
As photos of the lavish Ambani wedding -- full of luxury destinations, designer outfits, expensive jewelry, and celebrity glamor -- have been flooding social media, many have criticized the blatant display of wealth, leading to widespread resentment.
The couple kicked off their ceremony on Friday (July 12), where they exchanged garlands, as per Hindu traditions
Image credits: Raju Shinde/Hindustan Times
Taking to their X page (formerly known as Twitter), a person, who goes by the username “Urban Shrink,” shared a nearly three-minute-long video showcasing the 29-year-old groom and bride’s ultra-elaborate wedding invitations.
Instead of a regular save-the-date card, the Ambanis sent their guests a large box adorned with an image of Lord Vishnu. The box contained the nimantran patra (invitation) and several gifts.
“Anant Ambani’s wedding card,” Urban Shrink captioned. “When you are just clueless how to spend the money and wealth you have accumulated. Hence we need wealth redistribution, tax the rich.”
While many disagreed with the original poster’s sentiment, calling them “jealous” and defending the Ambanis’ freedom to spend their money as they pleased, others expressed similar disapproval, as a person commented: “That card would feed a family of four with basic food (wheat, rice, pulses) for at least 2-3 months. Shameless show of wealth.”
Moreover, Ambani’s critics have also highlighted that his company has relied on political connections during Congress Party-led governments in the 1970s and ’80s and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule after 2014, the AP reported.
The newlyweds have been celebrating their union since December, when Anant first proposed to Radhika at a temple in the northern Rajasthan state surrounded by family and close friends.
The opulence of the latest Ambani wedding caused discomfort for those who find the display of wealth jarring
Image credits: chhuti_is
Radhika took part in a traditional “mehndi” ceremony on January 18, when her hands and feet were decorated with henna, CNN reported on July 11.
The following day, the pair threw their “Gol Dhana” engagement party, drawing in some of the biggest names in Bollywood. Actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Ranveer Singh were among the famous faces in attendance.
In March, the Ambani’s actual wedding was reportedly staged in the city of Jamnagar, in the western state of Gujarat, and it had a guest list of 1,200 people.
Image credits: Majority World/Universal Images
The event featured choreographed Bollywood-style dancing, fireworks, and a feast of 500 dishes cooked by around 100 chefs. Rihanna also performed for only the second time in six years.
Tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were also reportedly present, while Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, arrived with their daughter.
In May, the Ambanis set off on a four-day European cruise aboard a luxury chartered ship, beginning in the Sicilian city of Palermo and ending in Rome, as per CNN.
Anant and Radhika’s matrimonial festivities took place at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India
Image credits: Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times
Despite a strict no-phones policy, leaked social media videos reportedly showed on-deck concerts from the Backstreet Boys, Pitbull, and David Guetta.
A masquerade ball at the Chateau de la Croix des Gardes mansion in Cannes featured a performance by Katy Perry, and an evening event in Portofino on the Italian Riviera had Andrea Bocelli performing for the privileged guests.
On July 2, the lovebirds staged a mass wedding, also known as “Samuh Vivah,” in the town of Palghar. More than 50 underprivileged couples were invited to receive gifts, ranging from gold ornaments to a year’s worth of groceries.
Image credits: Faisal Bashir/SOPA Images/LightRocket
A few days later, at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (a Mumbai arts venue founded by Anant’s mother, Nita), the Ambanis hosted a traditional night of music and dance, known as the “sangeet,” which featured a live performance from Justin Bieber, CNN reported.
The Monday (July 8) before the weekend-long ceremonies, the bride and groom took part in a “haldi” ceremony, a pre-wedding ritual that traditionally sees friends and family bless the marrying couple by applying a turmeric paste to their heads, faces, or bodies.
"It's all about flaunting cash," a reader commented
