Is this summer’s hottest music festival a wedding? On July 12, Anant Ambani — the youngest son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who is the richest man in Asia — exchanged vows with pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant in Mumbai, India. While the opulent wedding is set to last for three days, nuptial parties and events have been in full force for months. The Ambani family previously booked Beyoncé when Anant’s sister, Isha, got married in 2018, so we already knew that they don’t mind inviting musical acts to celebrate marriage. And this time is no exception. So far, Anant’s wedding and pre-wedding festivities have included performances from Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Rema, and more. Plenty of other rich and famous people flew in as guests. Here’s a look at the star-studded lineup/guestlist so far.
The warm-up acts
Rihanna famously sang her first full concert since 2016 at a pre-wedding party in March. Lead-up wedding events also included a four-day European cruise in May, during which guests were treated to live performances from Andrea Bocelli, the Backstreet Boys, David Guetta, Katy Perry, and Pitbull. A week before the actual wedding, Justin Bieber was also booked for a gig.
The headliners
It was an international lineup. Rema performed “Calm Down” at the wedding on July 12, while Luis Fonsi performed “Despacito.” According to CNN, social media footage also shows members of Ambani’s family dancing on stage with Daler Mehndi that night. Keep in mind that there could be more acts to come, given that the ceremony is planned to be a three-day affair. No chance they’re not gonna go out with a bang, right? According to the London Evening Standard, Adele and Drake are rumored to be possible final performers …
The guestlist
Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, John Cena, Law Roach, Nicky Hilton and James Rothschild, and more were in attendance at the wedding, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and many other big names in Bollywood. The Telegraph reported that former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson both made the trip to India for the ceremony. Meanwhile, billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates also showed up for pre-wedding festivities.
The price tag
So how much did this all cost? No one seems to know for sure, though outlets seem to agree that top celebrity performers were paid millions of dollars each for this gig. The Daily Mail estimated that the three-day wedding cost around $320 million. Accounting for five months of pre-wedding festivities, The Guardian put the total price tag at around $600 million. It seems doubtful that Ambani’s father would feel the need to step in and clarify the actual sum — to a man who has an estimated net worth of $123.3 billion, this probably just feels like pocket change.
