By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, July 13 (Bernama) -- From American entertainers to Indian politicians, India's richest man Mukesh Ambani brought together a star-studded guest list to celebrate his son's wedding in the country's financial capital Mumbai on Friday.
The Kardashian sisters -- Kim and Khloe -- from the United States, Bollywood's popular stars Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and Salman Khan, south Indian actor Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan and his family, former British prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, Samsung company chairman Jay Y. Lee, FIFA president Gianni Infantino and West Bengal state chief minister Mamata Banerjee were among those attending the ceremony.
The 29-year-old groom Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh and Nita Ambani, and bride Radhika Merchant, also 29, the daughter of pharmaceutical group Encore Healthcare's founders Viren and Shaila Merchant, basked in celebrity attention.
Friday's wedding will be followed by days of celebrations that will include a blessing ceremony and a reception.
India's celebrity-obsessed newspapers and television channels offered "live" coverage of the proceedings.
The event produced international publicity for the Ambani family, reinforcing an image of their profound wealth, corporate clout, Hindu rituals and political connections.
Pre-nuptial celebrations began in March, and they gave early indications of the extravagant show the wedding day was going to be. Those events were attended by Facebook owner Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, and Bill Gates.
Singer Rihanna was reportedly paid millions of dollars for her performance in March.
Canadian singer Justin Bieber, who performed a few days ago, received US$10 million for his gig, according to media reports.
No authoritative figures are available about the wedding expenses, but the Hindustan Times in a report said the family has spent 50 billion rupees (about US$600 million).
The tycoon hired 100 private planes to transport his guests to Mumbai, local media reported.
Mukesh's Reliance Industries has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, media, retail and financial services.
The US business publication Forbes estimates his net worth at US$123 billion compared with US$50 billion five years ago.
The list of guests reflects "the truly global and high-powered nature of this ceremony," noted an online report on a platform owned by Ambani's group.
On the list were ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, a former Indian president, several state chief ministers, prominent names of the main opposition Congress party, cricketers, and Indian and foreign entertainers.
The list of foreign invitees circulating before the wedding had the names of Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan, several former presidents and prime ministers including Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and Stephen Harper of Canada, top Saudi and Emirati executives, Singapore wealth fund Temasek's CEO Dilhan Pillay and many Western energy bosses.
Ambani, whose ancestral home and key businesses are in Gujarat state, is considered close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but he invited many well-known opposition figures.
Former chief minister of Bihar state Lalu Prasad Yadav and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav were present.
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, who is the second richest Indian, joined the celebrations.
Like Ambani, Adani hails from Gujarat and is considered pro-BJP.
The Ambani family's 27-storey residence Antilia in Mumbai, rated among the world's costliest homes, was decked up for the festivities.
The wedding venue was the Ambani-owned 16,000-capacity Jio World Convention Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, a commercial hub in Mumbai.
The celebrity crowds mingled inside in a dance and music environment while the venue was transformed into the Varanasi City holy riverbank-themed wonderland.
The city's traffic police had issued an advisory imposing traffic curbs in the area to ensure Ambani's guests would have a smooth ride.
Mumbai residents resented the road closures, but all they could do was grin and bear them.
The celebrities made their individual fashion and makeup statements as they posed for photographs on the red carpet.
Orientalised Westerners presented another spectacle.
The Ambani family is not known to conduct its marriages without razzmatazz.
Akash Ambani, Anant's elder brother, got married in 2019 to Shloka Mehta, the daughter of diamond businessman Arun Russell Mehta and Mona Mehta.
That glittering event was attended by former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, Google's Sundar Pichai, and Tony Blair among the celebrities, business elite, and politicians.
Mukesh's daughter Isha got married to Anand Piramal, the son of industrialist Ajay Piramal, in 2018 in a lavish event drawing a similar crowd of the rich and famous.
-- BERNAMA
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