The son of Asia’s richest man gets married in the year’s most extravagant wedding

Rafiq Maqbool and Rajanish Kakade, Associated Press

MUMBAI, India (AP) — The youngest boy of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, joined his longtime woman early Saturday successful what galore dubbed nan wedding of nan year, attended by world celebrities, business tycoons and politicians, highlighting nan billionaire’s staggering wealthiness and rising clout.

The wedding rituals, including exchanging garlands by nan mates and stepping astir nan ineffable fire, began Friday and were completed past midnight.

The celebrations of Anant Ambani marrying Radhika Merchant took spot astatine nan Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre successful Mumbai and nan family home. The matrimony culminated months of wedding events that featured performances by popular stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a reception organized by nan Ambanis connected Saturday evening.

The Ambanis hosted a “blessing ceremony’’ for friends and family members to meet nan mates and wish them a happy joined life.

India Today tv news transmission reported that nan newlyweds touched Modi’s feet arsenic a show of respect and sought his blessings.

The four-day wedding celebrations began Friday pinch nan accepted Hindu wedding ceremonial and will beryllium followed by a expansive reception to tally done nan weekend. The impermanent database includes erstwhile British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson; John Kerry, nan erstwhile U.S. typical envoy for climate, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser; and Adele, Lana Del Rey, Drake and David Beckham, according to section media. The Ambani family did not corroborate nan impermanent list.

Television news channels showed nan arrivals of celebrities for illustration Kim Kardashian, who was dressed successful red, and master wrestler and Hollywood character John Cena.

Kardashian sisters Kim and Khloé took a thrust successful a motorized rickshaw done bustling Mumbai streets Friday earlier joining nan wedding ceremonies, nan Press Trust of India news agency said.

International guests wore accepted apparel by awesome Indian manner designers. They put connected embroidered sherwanis — long-sleeved outer coats worn by men successful South Asia. Cena came successful a sky-blue sherwani and achromatic pants. Nick Jonas wore a pinkish sherwani and achromatic pants.

Bollywood icons Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor attended nan wedding and danced to celebrated Hindi movie songs. Indian cricketers, including icons Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav, were among nan invitees.

Police imposed postulation diversions astir nan wedding venue from Friday to Monday to grip nan influx of guests who flew to Mumbai, wherever dense monsoon rains person caused flooding and formation disruptions for nan past week.

The extravaganza and nan show of opulence that comes pinch nan wedding person led galore to raise questions astir rising inequality successful India, wherever nan spread betwixt rich | and mediocre is growing. The arena has besides sparked anger among immoderate Mumbai residents, who opportunity they are struggling pinch snarled traffic.

“It affects our earnings. I don’t attraction overmuch astir nan wedding,” said Vikram, a taxi driver who uses only 1 name.

The begetter of nan groom, Mukesh Ambani, is nan world’s ninth-richest man, pinch a nett worthy of $116 billion, according to Forbes. He is nan richest personification successful Asia. His Reliance Industries is simply a conglomerate reporting complete $100 cardinal successful yearly revenue, pinch interests that see petrochemicals, lipid and gas, telecoms and retail.

The Ambani family owns, among different assets, a 27-story family compound successful Mumbai worthy $1 billion. The building contains 3 helipads, a 160-car car shed and a backstage movie theater.

The groom, 29-year-old Anant, oversees nan conglomerate’s renewable and greenish power description . He besides runs a 3,000-acre (about 1,200-hectare) animal rescue halfway successful Gujarat state’s Jamnagar, nan family’s hometown.

The bride, Radhika Merchant, besides 29, is nan girl of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is nan trading head for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.

Ambani’s critics opportunity his institution has relied connected governmental connections during Congress Party-led governments successful nan 1970s and ’80s, and nether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s norm aft 2014.

The Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations person been lavish and star-studded from nan start.

In March, they threw a three-day prenuptial bash for Anant that had 1,200 guests, including erstwhile world leaders, tech tycoons and Bollywood megastars, and performances by Rihanna, Akon and Diljit Dosanjh, a Punjabi vocalist who changeable to world fame erstwhile he performed astatine Coachella. The arena was besides attended by tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.

It was nan commencement of lavish, months-long pre-wedding celebrations that grabbed headlines and group disconnected a societal media frenzy.

In May, nan family took guests connected a three-day cruise from Italy to France, which included Katy Perry singing her deed opus “Firework” and a capacity by Pitbull, according to media reports.

The family besides organized a wide wedding for much than 50 underprivileged couples connected July 2 arsenic portion of nan celebrations.

Last week, Justin Bieber performed for hundreds of guests astatine a pre-wedding performance that included performances by Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh and Salman Khan.

Ambani besides made headlines successful 2018, erstwhile Beyoncé performed astatine pre-wedding festivities for his daughter. Former U.S. Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who rubbed shoulders pinch Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars successful nan occidental Indian metropolis of Udaipur.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, center, poses for a photograph pinch his family members (from L to R), boy Akash, daughter-in-law Shloka, boy Anant, woman Nita, girl Isha and son-in-law Anand Piramal astatine nan wedding of his boy Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant astatine Jio World Convention Centre successful Mumbai, India, Friday, July 12. | Rajanish Kakade, Associated Press