INDIAN billionaire Mukesh Ambani, also dubbed “Crazy Rich Asian”, recently threw a big wedding for his youngest son Anant Ambani who married Radhika Merchant last week at Jio World Conventional Centre in Mumbai, India. Mukesh, known for organising the most expensive weddings for his children, was estimated to have spent a total of US$600 million (RM2.8 billion) for the nuptials and other rituals.
The event was attended by former presidents, prime ministers, politicians, international tycoons and members of the Indian film industry including actors Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) (Devdas) and Rajinikanth (Baasha).
Wedding of the year
Guests turned up decked out in lavish jewellery and costumes such as designer sarees, suits, gowns and lenghas. A noteworthy outfit was a gold lengha worn by actress and late Sridevi’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor, which was encrusted with precious stones and pearls by designer Falguni Shane Peacock.
In the unofficial red-carpet event that took place before the wedding processions, the starlet was crowned the “best dressed celeb” at the wedding. Meanwhile, Alia Bhatt (Heart of Stone) wore a pink 160-year-old hand woven Ashavali saree and an Anamika Khanna’s lehenga during the Ashirvad ceremony, a rite of giving blessings.
Telugu actors Mahesh Babu (Guntur Kaaram) and Ram Charan (RRR) as well as Hindi actor SRK all rocked up in dark blue Sherwani while some South male celebrities arrived clad in silk shirts and veshti.
Singer Justin Bieber was roped in to perform while reality TV celebrities Kim and Khloe Kardashian attended the event dolled up in traditional Indian fits (lengha).
Big, fat Indian wedding
Known for splurging on weddings of his children, Mukesh did not hold himself back for his son’s nuptials
as it was evident with the multitude
of feasts, diamond-encrusted traditional outfits, lavish jewellery and watches as well as picturesque wedding decorations.
Previously, Mukesh had spent 830 crores rupees for his daughter Isha Ambani’s wedding ceremonies. The 2018 wedding celebrations began with pre-nuptials festivities, an engagement ceremony in Italy, celebrations in Udaipur, a three-day wedding ceremony in Mumbai and an after-party with performances by singer Beyonce.
On March 9, 2019, Mukesh’s
eldest son Akash Ambani married Shloka Mehta with a pre-wedding celebration at Saint Moritz in Switzerland and a three-day wedding celebration in Mumbai. This time the billionare went all out for his youngest son’s wedding and the event has been the talk of the town since the pre-wedding festivities began in March this year.
Mukesh, whose family lives in a
27-storey house named Antilia
in Mumbai, owns multiple
multi-billion businesses, including telecommunication services and shopping malls.
However, his father Dhirubhai Ambani had a humble beginning and founded Reliance Industries from the ground up in 1958. After the passing of Dhirubhai, Mukesh and his brother Anil inherited the Ambani empire and Mukesh turned his companies into a multi-billion empire.
Today, Reliance has become an Indian multinational conglomerate, with big brands and network channel such as Hamleys, Network18 and more under its wing. It is estimated that the Ambani family’s patriarch has a net-worth of over US$123 billion.
Be it their money, lavish lifestyle or their charity works, the Ambanis are always the centre of attention, especially when there is a wedding to throw. No one quite does it like them.
