Janice R. Andrews
AP/NEW DELHI — Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is preparing for what seems to be the wedding of the year, a spectacle only the world’s wealthiest could dream up. Next week, his son Anant Ambani is scheduled to tie the knot with his longtime love Radhika Merchant, capping months of lavish pre-wedding festivities. The lavish celebrations have sparked a social media craze and drawn attention from all across the world.
Ambanis: Who Are They?
The head of the Ambani family, Mukesh Ambani, is not your typical billionaire. With a $116 billion net worth, he is currently the ninth richest person in the world at the age of 66, according to Forbes. Ambani has a significant impact on the petrochemical, oil and gas, telecommunication, and retail industries as the CEO of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate with over $100 billion in annual revenue. The Ambani family owns a $1 billion private apartment complex in Mumbai called Antilia, which is 27 stories tall. Three helipads, a 160-space parking garage, a private cinema, a swimming pool, and a fitness centre are all features of this architectural wonder.
Even if Ambani’s accomplishment is praised, there is some controversy around it. Opponents contend that political ties, which stretch back to the Congress regimes of the 1970s and 1980s and have persisted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership since 2014, have a significant role in the success of his firm. They contend that Ambani’s businesses have benefited from “crony capitalism.”
Mukesh Ambani is progressively giving his kids more control over the company. His youngest son, Anant, has been admitted into the new energy industry, while his eldest son, Akash, is currently the chairman of their telecom venture, Reliance Jio. His daughter, Isha, is in charge of the retail division.
Who Make Up the Groom and Bride?
Anant Ambani, 29, is in charge of Reliance Industries’ renewable and green energy branch. He graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree. In addition, he oversees the 3,000-acre animal rescue facility Vantara, located in Jamnagar, Gujarat—the homeland of the Ambani family.
The bride, 29-year-old Radhika Merchant, is the daughter of Viren Merchant, a pharmaceutical magnate. She works as the director of marketing for her father’s business, Encore Healthcare. The pair reportedly met in 2017 through mutual acquaintances, according to Vogue. “We just clicked on that first date, and it didn’t take long for us to get serious,” Radhika said.
What is expected of you and when is the wedding?
According to local media sources, the wedding ceremony is set for July 12 and will be followed by a lavish celebration on July 14. The Ambani family’s opulent Mumbai residence and the Jio World Convention Centre will host different parts of the festivities. In order to ensure an auspicious union, the wedding dates were selected using the couple’s birth charts, as is customary in Hinduism.
There will be a number of customary rites and ceremonies prior to the wedding. Videos from the couple’s sangeet, a pre-wedding celebration when family perform dances for the guests, have been making waves on Indian social media recently. Bollywood celebrities including Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, and Alia Bhatt performed at the sangeet. Justin Bieber also made an appearance; he travelled to Mumbai just for the occasion.
Last week, the Ambani family included philanthropy into their pre-wedding celebrations by organising a mass wedding for nearly 50 impoverished couples as a show of goodwill.
The Glamorous Festivities
The next wedding is expected to maintain the Ambanis’ well-known history of lavish celebrations. The March prenuptial celebration, which included celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone from Bollywood, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and previous Canadian and Qatari officials, was a tribute to their taste for extravagance. Akon, Rihanna, and Diljit Dosanjh—a Punjabi artist who became well-known worldwide for his Coachella performance—were among the musical acts.
The pre-wedding festivities included a three-day trip from Italy to France in May. Pitbull performed a big finale, followed by a performance by Katy Perry and DJ sets by David Guetta at this star-studded event.
When his daughter Isha married Anand Piramal in 2018, Mukesh Ambani began to organise high-profile parties. Pop icon Beyoncé performed at the wedding festivities, and former US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry attended, mingling with Bollywood stars and Indian celebrities in Udaipur.
The world waits in excitement to see how Asia’s wealthiest man will once again establish new records for extravagance and grandeur in wedding celebrations as the Ambanis get ready for the big day.
