Meet the Ambani family: Who does what?

 

Meet theAmbani family: Who does what?

 

The guest list of Anant Ambani's pre-wedding celebrations includes Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Ivanka Trump, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

The celebration of the engagement is usually a small affair, including a few friends and family, rather than a lavish three-day event that includes a private show by Rihanna, an after-party with a performance by the icon and the mother of the bridegroom. has worn an emerald necklace worth 4 crore 70 pounds.

But the Ambanis are no ordinary family, and this was no ordinary pre-wedding party. The event showcases the wealth of Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, who announced the engagement of his youngest son Anant Ambani to longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant, who herself hails from another wealthy industrialist family. .

  The wedding, which will take place several months later, is set to be one of the biggest weddings in the recent past.

The event, which lasted from Friday to Sunday, showcased exquisite jewellery, precious stones and glamorous costumes. The bride wore a pink Versace gown that Blake Lively has modeled in the past. Meanwhile, an estimated 1,200 guests were accommodated in the luxurious tent, which was staffed by hair stylists, make-up artists and a troop of traditional Indian saree weavers.

Celebrities including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump and Shah Rukh Khan had to choose from over 500 dishes over three days, prepared by around 100 top chefs.

The catering deal alone was rumored to be worth around £20 million, while some reports put the total cost of the event at £120 million, about 0.1% of Ambani's estimated $120 billion fortune. .

The event was so big that the Indian government was forced to temporarily upgrade the local airport at Jamnagar in western Gujarat to accommodate private jets from around the world.

There has been criticism locally that an Indian Air Force base, considered militarily sensitive, should be used for such purposes and run temporary immigration and customs desks at public expense.

The entire program demonstrates the economic and political influence wielded by Ambani, 66, who is currently the world's 10th richest person.

  His Reliance Industries is a huge conglomerate, with annual revenues of more than $100 billion, ranging from petrochemicals, oil and gas to telecoms and retail.

Under his leadership, Reliance, founded by his father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966, sparked competition in telecom pricing with the launch of 4G phones and broadband service Jio in 2016.

  Today it has more than 42 crore subscribers and provides 5G services in remote areas of the country. Earlier this week, Disney struck an $8.5 billion deal to merge its India business with Ambani's Reliance Industries, creating a new media company.

The Ambani family, among other assets, owns a 27-storey private apartment building in Mumbai called 'Entila' which is worth a billion dollars. It has three helipads, a 160-car garage, a private movie theater, a swimming pool and a fitness center.

Ambani's critics say his company has flourished because of his political connections during Congress governments in the 1970s and 80s and later under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014.

He says that the culture of 'crony capitalism' in India has allowed several large corporations like Ambani and his biggest rival Adani Group to flourish in the market.

Ambani, who dropped out of Stanford University, married Nita Dalal, a professional Bharatnatyam dancer and school teacher, in 1985. After six years of marriage, the couple had twins – Akash and Isha Ambani. Four years later the youngest son Anant was born.

All of Ambani's children have studied at Ivy League universities in the US and are now running various branches of their father's business.

Akash Ambani, who graduated in Economics from Brown University, is now the Chief of Strategy at Reliance Jio Infocomm. Isha Ambani, a graduate in psychology from Yale University, is now a director at Reliance Jio Infocomm and Reliance Retail.

His youngest brother and groom-to-be this weekend also attended Brown University and serves as a director in Reliance's energy business.

Ananth's mother told The Times of India in 2017 that while growing up, Ananth suffered from asthma, so he had to take a lot of steroids.

  He said that as a result of the treatment, he gained a lot of weight. During her pre-wedding speech last week, she thanked her parents for their support and said her life had never been a 'bed of flowers' due to her health problems.

Anant Ambani Radhika Merchant.jpg

According to Indian Express, he said, "I have faced many health problems since childhood, but my father and mother never let me feel it." My father and mother have always stood by me, and they have made me realize that if I can think it, I can do it.'

Extraordinary parties like this weekend, which saw Rihanna's first full live show in eight years, are a specialty of the Ambani family.

Who else but Ivanka Trump, dressed in a sequined sari with gold and silver stripes and wearing chandelier earrings, along with her husband, Jared Kushner, to attend a 'Magical Evening at Everland' in a quiet corner of the country? Is.

Or Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan could evoke a life of quiet luxury by wearing a black dress designed by Alexander McQueen.

On Saturday, the Facebook founder upped his fashion trend by wearing a tiger print shirt. That night, China wore a nature-themed two-piece with two golden birds and Zuckerberg wore a dress with floral and wildlife motifs.

On Sunday, Chen shared her last night outfit on Instagram – a purple sari with small floral designs, while Zuckerberg wore a brown sherwani.

This was not the first time that the Ambani family had held a grand wedding ceremony.

When his daughter got married in 2018, Ambani booked global megastar Beyoncé to perform at the pre-wedding celebrations. At that time, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who hung out with Indian dignitaries and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.

Later that year, Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal officially celebrated their engagement overlooking Italy's beautiful Lake Como. In December 2018, they got married at Ambani's residence in Mumbai.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the Ambani family spent around 78 million pounds on the wedding at that time.

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