Global icons, film stars descend on Jamnagar for Anant Ambani-Radhika’s pre-wedding bash

Bollywood celebrities, cricketers, sports stars, heads of states and business tycoons from India and abroad, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, have started arriving at Gujarat’s Jamnagar city for a three-day-long lavish pre-wedding event of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant and his fiancée Radhika Merchant.

While Anant Ambani is the younger son of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) CMD Mukesh Ambani, Radhika Merchant is the younger daughter of Viren Merchant, CEO of Encore Healthcare. Anant Ambani serves as a director on the boards of RIL and Jio Platforms Ltd among some other group firms.

The grand pre-wedding celebrations, which began on Friday, are being held at a residential township situated close to RIL’s petroleum refinery near Jamnagar city. Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant had got engaged in January 2023.

While several top celebrities and business leaders have already arrived at Jamnagar, some are expected to be here in the coming days, sources aware of the matter said.

Those who have already arrived for the high-profile event included Zuckerberg, former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, badminton champion Saina Nehwal, cricketers Rashid Khan and Suryakumar Yadav, former cricketer Zaheer Khan and Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, among others.

Popstar Rihanna has also landed at Jamnagar and she is expected to perform at the event, said the sources. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is already in Gujarat, is expected to reach Jamnagar by Friday evening.

It was also learnt that world renowned illusionist David Blaine and top Indian artists such as Arijit Singh, Ajay-Atul and Diljit Dosanjh would enthral the audience during the three-day-long festivities.

Prime Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, King and Queen of Bhutan, former President of Bolivia Jorge Quiroga, ex-PM of Australia Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and ex-Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt are also expected to attend the grand function.

Some of the top business leaders who are in the ‘guest list’ include chairperson of Saudi Aramco Yasir Al Rumayyan, Chairman & CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink, CEO of Adobe Shantanu Narayen, Meta COO Javier Olivan, Chairperson of World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab and Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings Mark Tucker.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, CEO of The Walt Disney Bob Iger and Chairman of Bank of America Brian Thomas Moynihan are also part of the long list of guests.

The ‘who’s who’ from India who have been invited for the event include corporate leaders Gautam Adani, Nandan Nilekani, Sanjiv Goenka, Rishad Premji, Uday Kotak and Adar Poonawala, well-known film personalities Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dikshit, cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, among others.