High-profile celebrities such as Kim and Khloe Kardashian, former professional boxer Mike Tyson, past UK prime ministers, leading business magnates, and others will reportedly converge in Mumbai this coming Friday for the wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
After a flamboyant run of four months of pre-wedding revelries, 29-year-old Anant will tie the knot with Radhika Merchant, the daughter of high-profile pharmaceutical entrepreneurs Viren and Shaila Merchant.
Sources say that invited on the guest list will be a mix of Indian and international stars, political leaders, and business heads.
After all, Mukesh Ambani and his wife, Nita, are no strangers to hosting lavish weddings for their other children. Beyoncé sang at Isha Ambani's wedding in 2018, which Hillary Clinton and John Kerry attended. A year later, Chris Martin performed at Akash's pre-wedding party in St Moritz, Switzerland, while Maroon 5 performed at his actual wedding in Mumbai.
But now, it seems that visitors, Anant's wedding will outdo them all. Jamnagar, Gujarat—the three-day-long pre-wedding gala at the house of Ambani's sprawling oil refinery—saw some 1,200 guests. Among the guests, sources tell The Ken, were also Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft's Bill Gates, BlackRock co-founder Larry Fink, Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai, and Saudi Aramco chairman Yasir Al Rumayyan—at least as an audience to a special performance by Rihanna.
Then in June, the party shifted outdoors to Italy and the French Mediterranean – a luxurious cruise along the turquoise coastline of the Tyrrhenian Sea – where performances by the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, and tenor Andrea Bocelli kept the guests entertained.
Justin Bieber had been flown in recently for a performance at the 'sangeet' ceremony.
The wedding will take place at Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Dinner receptions will be hosted over the next few days.
Guests will include the Kardashians, but also former UK Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, the futurist Peter Diamandis, artist Jeff Koons, life coach Jay Shetty, former US Secretary of State John Kerry, and ex-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, sources said.
The event will also be graced by the luminaries of Bollywood, with Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, and Alia Bhatt.
It will also feature the entire guest list of veteran actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, along with Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Janhvi Kapoor, and Sara Ali Khan.
The long guest list of the expected elite from corporate circles includes HSBC Holdings plc Chairman Mark Tucker, Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Lee, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, BP CEO Murray Auchincloss, GSK Plc's Emma Walmsley, Lockheed Martin's Jim Taiclet, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Other corporate bosses likely to attend the party are Ericsson CEO Börje 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.
Several high net worth Indian business leaders, including Gautam Adani, are also likely to attend given that they were present at the Jamnagar celebrations.
Anant and Radhika got engaged in a traditional ceremony in January 2023.
Read also | Court Denies Bail to Man Accused of Creating Deepfake Video Featuring Amitabh Bachchan