Son of Asia's richest man marries in most extravagant wedding of the year

BOMBAY The youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest manmarried his longtime girlfriend early Saturday in what many have dubbed the wedding of the year, attended by global celebrities, business tycoons and politicians, underscoring the billionaire's staggering wealth and growing influence.

The wedding rituals, including the exchange of garlands by the couple and the walking around the sacred fire, started on Friday and were completed after midnight.

THE Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant wedding celebrations The wedding took place at Ambani's Jio World convention centre in Mumbai and at his family home. The wedding was the culmination of months of nuptial celebrations that featured performances by pop stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.

The four-day wedding celebrations began on Friday with the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony and will be followed by a grand reception that will last throughout the weekend. The guest list Guests include former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser, as well as Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to local media. The Ambani family has not confirmed the guest list.

TV news channels showed celebrities like Kim Kardashian in a red ensemble and the arrival of professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena.

Kardashian sisters Kim and Khlo took a motorized rickshaw ride through the busy streets of Mumbai on Friday before joining the wedding ceremonies, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

International guests wore traditional clothing India's most famous fashion designers wore embroidered sherwanis, long-sleeved coats worn by men in South Asia. Cena wore a sky blue sherwani and white pants. Nick Jonas wore a pink sherwani and white pants.

Bollywood icons Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor attended the wedding and danced to popular Hindi film songs. Indian cricketers including icons Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav were among the guests.

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 air disruptions over the past week.

The extravagance and display of opulence that accompanies marriage has led many to question the growing inequality in India, where The gap between rich and poor is wideningThe incident has also sparked anger among some Mumbai residents, who say they are facing traffic jams.

“It affects our income. I don't care much about marriage,” said Vikram, a taxi driver who uses only one name.

The groom's father, Mukesh Ambani, is the ninth richest man in the world, with a net worth of $116 billion, according to Forbes. He is the richest person in Asia. His conglomerate Reliance Industries has annual revenues of more than $100 billion, with interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications and retail.

The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story family compound in Mumbai worth $1 billion. The building houses three helipads, a 160-car garage and a private cinema hall.

The groom, Anant, 29, oversees the conglomerate's renewable and green energy development. He also runs a 3,000-acre animal rescue centre in the family's hometown of Jamnagar in Gujarat state.

The bride, Radhika Merchant, also 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director of his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.

Ambanis' critics say his company relied on his political connections during Congress Party-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 from the start.

In March, they hosted a three-day bridal shower The event featured 1,200 guests, including former world leaders, tech moguls and Bollywood megastars, and featured performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi singer who shot to international fame during his performance at Coachella. Tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates also attended the event.

It was the beginning of months of lavish pre-wedding celebrations that made headlines and sparked a social media frenzy.

In May, the family took guests on a three-day cruise from Italy to France, during which Katy Perry performed her hit song “Firework” and saw a performance by Pitbull, according to media reports.

The family also organized a Mass wedding for over 50 disadvantaged couples on July 2 as part of the celebrations.

Last week, Justin Bieber performed in front of hundreds of guests at a pre-wedding concert that included performances from Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.

Ambani also made headlines in 2018, when Beyoncé Performs at Her Daughter's Pre-Wedding FestivitiesFormer 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.