ant Ambani and Radhika Merchant tied the knot in one of the most high-profile weddings to ever take place in India. Billionaire heir Anant Ambani is the younger son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his wife, Nita Ambani. His wedding to Encore Healthcare CEO Viren Merchant’s daughter, Radhika Merchant, took place on July 12 in Mumbai.
The Ambani wedding marked the culmination of months of pre-wedding festivities. The couple’s roka took place in 2022 at the Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara. In early 2023, the Ambanis hosted a grand engagement party for the couple at their palatial Mumbai residence, Antilia. The engagement ceremony was preceded by a mehendi function in January 2023, which took place at a five-star Mumbai hotel.
Then, in February 2024, the pre-wedding festivities began in earnest with a Lagan Lakhvanu ceremony. In early March the same year, the Ambani family hosted a three-day extravaganza at their sprawling Jamnagar estate, which was attended by several national and international VIPs. The guest list included Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, besides a galaxy of Bollywood stars, athletes, business leaders and diplomats. At the Jamnagar festivities, guests were treated to private concerts by Rihanna and Diljit Dosanjh over three nights of grand parties.
The Ambani family then hosted a luxury cruise for hundreds of guests in late May. Many Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh and Ananya Panday were part of the cruise that had stops across the Mediterranean. The guests on the cruise got to enjoy private concerts by Shakira, the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and David Guetta.
The week leading up to the big day on July 12 was equally eventful. It featured a sangeet (with a concert from Justin Bieber), a mameru ceremony, a garba night, a haldi ceremony, a mehendi ceremony, a mass wedding for the underprivileged, a Shiv Shakti pooja and a Graha Shanti pooja.