Indian Billionaire’s Son Marries Amid Lavish Celebrations, Showcasing Global Clout

NEW DELHI (AP) — It has been a wedding like no other, with festivities extending over months. The celebrations commenced with a three-day pre-wedding gala in March, featuring performances by Rihanna and Akon for a star-studded audience of 1,200 guests. This was followed by a four-day European cruise in May, showcasing on-deck concerts from the Backstreet Boys and Pitbull and concluding with a masquerade ball where Katy Perry sang.

Even that wasn’t the end. Last week, a traditional music night in Mumbai saw Justin Bieber performing his greatest hits. The culmination came early Saturday with the official wedding, graced by celebrities like Mike Tyson, Nick Jonas, Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, and Kim Kardashian, who made a grand entrance with flute-playing artists.

The wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, has been nothing short of a global spectacle. It has not only brought together some of the world’s most famous celebrities and powerful figures but also underscored the immense influence of the Indian billionaire.

The sheer extravagance of the events has sparked questions about rising inequality in India. Economic surveys suggest the country’s richest 1% own more than 40% of the total wealth. Author Salil Tripathi critiqued the splendor saying, “The problem with the Ambani wedding isn’t the ostentatiousness. It is the exhibitionism.”

Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of $116 billion, ensured that the wedding became the talk of the town. The family spent millions on grand jewels, reminiscent of India’s royal past. Wedding invitations were crafted from silver and gold. Private jets were hired for guest transport. The celebrated Bollywood designer, Manish Malhotra, served as the wedding’s creative director.

The cost of this grand display of opulence is estimated to surpass half a billion dollars, according to the wedding planning app, Bridebook.com. Even so, this sum is less than half a percent of the Ambani family’s total wealth. In stark contrast, millions of middle-class families in India struggle to save enough for their children’s weddings, often exhausting their entire savings.

Anant Ambani, who oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion, tied the knot with Radhika Merchant, daughter of Viren and Shaila Merchant, founders of Encore Healthcare. The events reached their zenith at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Center, which holds 16,000 people. Guests walked a red carpet, donning traditional embroidered sherwanis and designs from India’s most renowned fashion designers.

Footage from the event showed guests dancing to Bollywood tunes, with many news channels offering minute-by-minute coverage of the main wedding ritual, the couple walking around the sacred fire seven times. Even FIFA President Gianni Infantino joined in the celebrations.

The festivities are scheduled to continue throughout the weekend at Ambani’s 27-story family compound in Mumbai. This billion-dollar residence includes three helipads, a 160-car garage, and a private movie theater. A divine blessings ceremony is planned for Saturday, with a final reception on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend one of these events, according to local media.

Critics argue that Ambani’s astounding wealth is largely due to political alliances during the Congress party-led governments of the 1970s and ’80s and under Modi’s administration since 2014.

However, the opulence has not been universally admired. Kunal Kanase, a researcher and activist living in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums located just 5 kilometers from the wedding venue, commented on the stark contrast. He shared, “The money spent by the Ambanis has evoked negative emotions among the country’s poor who struggle to make ends meet.” He added, “It is crazy. I don’t understand what these billionaires want to show by displaying such wealth.”

Source: Associated Press