Anant Ambani is the heir to the Reliance Industries fortune at 28-years-old. His father, Mukesh Ambani, is Asia’s richest man and ranked the 9th richest in the world. So, it is not a surprise that this 3-day Bollywood-style pre-wedding extravaganza had two of the top 10 richest men1 attending — Mark Zuckerberg (#4) and Bill Gates (#7). The invite list included guests from an eclectic mix of well-known personalities like Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Hillary Clinton, the Bhutan royal family, The Saudi Crown Prince, Cristiano Ronaldo, and, of course, Rihanna.
Ree-ah-na (not Ree-anna) came out of retirement to put on a pre-wedding show for a fee north of $5M, maybe even $9M per this report2, which is obviously all chump change for the Ambani’s with their net worth of $117.5B. Other performers include the singer Akon and illusionist David Blaine. For comparison, Anant’s older sibling had Rihanna and Coldplay perform at their weddings. Who will perform at Anant’s actual wedding in July is anybody’s guess? Taylor Swift and the Kansas City Chiefs, perhaps?
Anant is getting married to Radhika Merchant, the heir to the global pharmaceutical empire of Encore Healthcare. Their net worth is estimated to be under $1B. Anant and Radhika have known each other since childhood.
While we wait for more videos to emerge from the weekend where the rich and famous danced the night away to the tunes of “Diamonds” in their diamond-studded Indian traditional wear, here are some of the highlights that popped up on my feeds:
Mark Zuckerberg and wife went gaga over Anant’s $1M watch.
"You know, I never really wanted to get a watch, but after seeing that, I was like, 'Watches are cool,'" Zuckerberg said.3
Some say the watch is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak open worked skeleton, while others claim it to be a Richard Mile RMS-10 Tourbillon Koi Fish featuring 18K rose gold and bezel set diamonds. All I can say is that it is by no means comparable to my Apple Watch Ultra.
The local Air Force Base in the city of Jamnagar, Gujarat’s fifth-largest city, was used to land nearly 130 flights from across the country and the world.
Among all the guests, more than 50 arrived from overseas, creating a hassle for the Jamnagar airport officials who had to handle five times the traffic they are used to. Union ministries of Health, Finance, and Home Affairs were roped in to press in resources to set up a Custom, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facility at the airport.4
"Jungle fever" was the dress code for all the 1200 attendees, a theme to match the razzle-dazzle of Bollywood glamor. The who’s who of the Indian and international entertainment industries, including movie stars and famed sports personalities, shared the limelight with technology, political and religious king-pins, to make it a colorful and diverse spectacle.
51,000 residents of this local township were served food5 by the Ambani and Merchant family, in a ceremony called Anna Seva — the selfless act of giving meals to people in need. At the pre-wedding, the esteemed guests were served a lavish spread of 2,500 dishes cooked by a team of 65 chefs.
The wedding was also a celebration of business deals made and those in the making. Meta owns 10% stake in Reliance Digital assets while Google holds 7.7% stake in Reliance Digital units as well as a $4.5B investment with Reliance Jio to create affordable mobile phones for the Indian market. Last year, BlackRock had set up the Jio-BlackRock asset management company in equal partnership with Ambani’s Jio Financial Services. Walt Disney recently announced $8.5B merger with Reliance Media assets. The CEOs of these Fortune 500 companies were invited to this pre-wedding.
Together, the Reliance-Disney merged entity will have 120 TV channels and two streaming platforms, helping Ambani eclipse rivals in the country’s $28bn media and entertainment sector.6
Rihanna made headlines not only for her comeback after a hiatus of 8 years, but for how she warmed the hearts of many Indians. First, she arrived with luggage in several massive wooden crates that were carried on tableaus at the airport. If that is an entry to talk about, her exit filled the local hearts. On her way out a day early, she made the Indian paparazzi the happiest paps in the world when she posed with them in friendly embraces. She also took photos with the police security personnel and hugged the women officers.
Rihanna’s performance on and off the stage to please the elite and woo the common Indians alike may be a business deal in the making. Rihanna is one of the richest entertainers in the world, with a net worth of $1.4B.
The bulk of her fortune comes from Fenty Beauty, the makeup line she co-owns with French luxury goods firm LVMH (run by Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest person), sales of which doubled in 2022.7
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) currently owns 26 Sephora stores with exclusive rights to expand its presence in India. Fenty Beauty, which already sells its products at Sephora stores globally8, may look at this as a PR opportunity to reach the hearts and wallets of the complexion-conscious middle and upper-class India.
All said and done, this lavish event showcases how attractive the Indian market is for the international elite. India’s economic stardom on the international stage is a result of the continued partnerships and new deals that earns them an invitation to this jungle.
Of all these details, the dress code sounds like the most daunting to me, a simple plebeian