How do you top Rihanna performing at your pre-wedding celebration? What visual spectacular beats Cirque du Soleil? Can anything at your actual nuptials surpass the opulence of the Mediterranean cruise for 800 guests that you have already laid on?
India is about to find out, because the countdown to the final act in one of the most extravagant wedding celebrations in history has begun. Over three days next weekend Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man, will wed Radhika Merchant, the daughter of a wealthy Mumbai industrialist.
The Ambanis have done this all before with their daughter Isha in 2018. Hers was the most expensive wedding India had ever seen, at a reported $100 million, with Beyoncé performing and receptions in Mumbai, Lake Como, and Rajasthan.
Already the rumour mill is in overdrive for the sequel. “No one cares which Bollywood star is going to attend,” said Ranjit Rodricks, a well-connected Mumbai fashion designer. “The buzz is around the global stars. I have it on good authority that Justin Bieber will perform. The others who have not yet signed but are in talks are Drake, Adele and Lana Del Rey”.
On Friday Bieber was photographed arriving in Mumbai and then being driven in a Rolls-Royce to Anant’s home.
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His appearance supplied part of the answer to the big question hanging over proceedings: how on earth will Mukesh and Nita Ambani outdo the staggering grandeur of the two warm-up events that they have already organised for their youngest child?
Anant, 29, sits on the board of several companies in his father’s Reliance Industries conglomerate, which has interests ranging from petrochemicals and telecoms to retail and financial services. He is a graduate of Brown University in Rhode Island and an animal-lover who has set up a wildlife park in Gujarat that features an elephant hospital.
Radhika, 29, works for her father Viren Merchant’s large pharmaceuticals company, Encore Healthcare. She is a graduate of New York University and a trained Indian classical dancer. The couple met through mutual friends in 2017 and began dating soon afterwards. Anant proposed in 2023.
In March the first event of their pre-wedding celebrations took place in Jamnagar in Gujarat. The Ambanis hosted a glittering array of princes, magnates, ministers, tycoons, billionaires and celebrities for a lavish celebration over three days at which Rihanna performed her first full-length concert in almost eight years for $5 million.
About 1,200 guests, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump and some of Bollywood’s biggest names enjoyed fine dining from world-renowned chefs, personal make-up artists and hair stylists, sumptuous tents and decor that would make Versailles look drab. Reported cost: $152 million.
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The second pre-wedding celebration was a trip on a luxury cruise liner, beginning in late May, where 800 guests aged from six months to 90 years joined the family to sail down the Italian and French Riviera.
It included a toga party beginning at 1am and a masquerade ball at the Château de la Croix des Gardes at Cannes. As Kate Perry sang Firework, a mammoth firework display exploded in the skies above the chateau from a flotilla of ships lined up in the bay. Other performers included the Backstreet Boys and Andrea Bocelli.
At one point Merchant wore a chiffon gown designed by Robert Wun on which a love letter that Anant wrote to her when she was 22 was printed. An Indian outfit she wore was studded with 20,000 Swarovski crystals. Reported cost: $900 million.
For the finale, the actual Hindu wedding, the Ambanis have decided to stay in Mumbai and host at home. For Mukesh Ambani, worth an estimated $116 billion, home is a 27-storey house. Some of the celebrations will be celebrated at the family-owned Jio World Centre spread over 18 acres.
Details are scanty. Everyone who works for the family has to sign a confidentiality agreement. Workers entering the Jio World Centre to prepare for the big day have to leave their phones outside. Vendors are sworn to secrecy.
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One event was public, though. The Ambanis staged a mass wedding for 50 underprivileged couples and hundreds of relatives in Mumbai. They gave the couples jewellery, household items and groceries for a year.
The only thing that has leaked out is one of the invitations to the events — a miniature Hindu temple made of silver inside a big box of red lacquered wood and containing idols and drawers filled with dried fruit and sweets, along with a pashmina shawl.
“It’s very tasteful and a tribute to Indian craftsmanship,” one guest said. “But when you open it, a nasty, strong smell of Indian glue bursts out.”
The temple has been sent only to the exclusive group of guests invited to two or more functions. Those invited to only one, on July 14, received a more modest printed card where the Ambanis profusely expressed their “warmth, affection, love and gratitude”.
“The wedding of the youngest child is amongst the happiest and most emotional moments for parents. Anant and Radhika, both the youngest children in our families, have a very special place in our hearts. Their union mirrors a shared passion and purpose to make the world around them a happier, kinder and brighter place for one and all,” said the card.
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One aspect not in doubt is that the family will dance on stage. At the Jamnagar celebration, all of them danced enthusiastically, whether as couples, as a family or with Bollywood film stars.
“From all the vehicles outside the centre, it’s clear the dance rehearsals are under way. Knowing the Ambanis, they’ll want every step and gesture to be right,” said a socialite who did not want to be named. Every detail is lapped up as it emerges, with their compatriots gasping in delight or distaste. But a glittering wedding is every Indian’s dream and the extravagance is merely relative.
According to a recent report by investment firm Jefferies, India’s wedding industry is now worth $130 billion a year, twice the size of the market in the United States. Lavish weddings are spreading even to Indian Christians or tribal communities who used to keep them fairly modest. If they cannot afford it, they borrow money.
“My family always kept weddings basic but since everyone is spending more, they’ve started to, to show they aren’t left behind,” said Nobla Kujur, who works as a house help in Delhi. “My niece’s groom demanded a car and gold jewellery and between us five sisters, we gave it.”
Rajeev Jain, director of Rashi Entertainment, an event company, described weddings as the pinnacle of a family’s life. They save for years to celebrate the union of two families and it is mandatory for everyone they have ever known in their lives to be invited, he said.
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“My compliments to the Ambanis for doing what every Indian would love to do but cannot afford.”
