Cricketers, filmstars, celebrities arrive for Ambani wedding

PTI, Jul 12, 2024, 7:57 PM IST

Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant during Sangeet ceremony (Credit: PTI)

Mumbai: Hollywood and bollywood stars — from John Cena to Rajnikanth, American influencer Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe, and cricketers like Mahendra Singh Dhoni — were among top celebrity guests adding glitter to the grandiose wedding of youngest Ambani scion Anant on Friday.

After four months of one star-studded pre-wedding celebration after another, Anant, 29, is tying the knot with Radhika Merchant, daughter of pharma tycoons Viren and Shaila Merchant, at Mumbai’s Jio World Drive — a convention centre built and owned by the Ambani family.

The Kardashians, who arrived here late on Thursday to a red carpet welcome at the Taj Mahal Hotel, took an auto rickshaw ride through the bustling streets of Mumbai ahead of the wedding. John Cena and rapper Rema as well as former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson also arrived in India on Thursday night.

Wearing a red and golden sherwani, Anant arrived at the venue with his family — father Mukesh, mother Nita, sister Isha and her husband Anand Piramal, and brother Akash and his wife Shloka Mehta as well as their children.

Anant styled the sherwani, which featured a bandhgala neckline, intricate golden embroidery, front button closures adorned with precious gems, full-length sleeves, and padded shoulders, with white pyjamas, beige sneakers embellished with gold sequins, and a gold elephant brooch.

Not just the Ambani family complemented the groom-to-be in ethnic outfit, the guests arriving too wore designer Indian dresses.

John Cena arrived at the wedding in a powder blue bandhgala with silver embroidery. Superstar Rajnikanth, daughter Soundarya and her husband and son wore traditional Tamil wear.

Dhoni, accompanied by his wife Sakshi and daughter Ziva, arrived for the ceremony wearing a golden yellow traditional wear.

Anil Kapoor wore a bandhgala while Sanjay Dutt sported a heavily embroidered black sherwani. Director-producer Karan Johar, filmstars Varun Dhawan, Venkatesh, music director A R Rahman and wife, Jackie Shroff, Rajkummar Rao, and Ananya Panday all came in traditional Indian attires.

Sara Ali Khan came with her brother Ibrahim while Janhvi Kapoor arrived for the ceremony with her rumoured boyfriend Shikhar Pahariya. Priyanka Chopra Jonas came with her husband Nick.

Cricketer Hardik Pandya too arrived in style in an Indian ethnic wear. Former cricketer K Srikkanth also joined the celebration.

The wedding will be a three-day affair — the lagna vidhi on Friday, followed by a restricted reception on Saturday and a gala reception on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the function on Saturday.

The guest list is a mix of Indian and foreign celebrities, politicians and corporate bigwigs, sources aware of the matter said.

Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita in the past had lavish weddings for their other children too — Beyoncé performed at daughter Isha Ambani’s 2018 nuptials that boosted of guests like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and a year later Coldplay’s Chris Martin performed at Aaksh’s pre-wedding bash in St Moritz, Switzerland, and Maroon 5 at his wedding in Mumbai.

But the wedding of the youngest has eclipsed both. A three-day pre-wedding event at Gujarat’s Jamanagar — hometown of Ambani which also houses his conglomerate’s giant oil refining complex — featured some 1,200 guests including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, BlackRock co-founder Larry Fink, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Al Rumayyan as well as a performance by Rihanna.

In June, the celebrations travelled overseas when guests embarked on a luxury cruise along the stunning azure coastline of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy, to the French Mediterranean and featured performances by Backstreet Boys, singer Katy Perry and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Justin Bieber performed at the ‘sangeet’ ceremony last week.

Besides the Kardashians, Anant-Radhika extravaganza is expected to be attended by former UK prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, futurist Peter Diamandis, artist Jeff Koons, self-help coach Jay Shetty, former US Secretary of State John Kerry, and former Canadian PM Stephen Harper, sources said.

Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone, and Alia Bhatt too are expected.

The corporate world luminaries expected include HSBC Holdings plc Chairman Mark Tucker, Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Lee, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss, Emma Walmsley of drug giant GSK Plc, Jim Taiclet of Lockheed Martin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Besides, Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm, HP president Enrique Lores, Temasek CEO Dilhan Pillay, Khaldoon Al Mubarak of Mubadala, ADIA board member Khalil Mohd Sharif Foulathi, and Kuwait Investment Authority MD Bader Mohammad Al-Saad are also expected to attend the celebrations.

Several Indian business tycoons including Gautam Adani are expected at the wedding, they said.

Adani had also attended the Jamnagar event.

Anant and Radhika had got engaged in a traditional ceremony in January 2023.