India’s “most extravagant wedding of the year” has entered the countdown. According to India’s “Mint” reported on the 7th, Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son Anant Ambani and his girlfriend Radhika Maichant’s official wedding will be held from 12 to 14 in Mumbai’s Jio World Congress Center. While this wedding has triggered unprecedented global media attention to the Indian wedding industry, the Ambani family’s wedding celebrations have also been criticized for disturbing the public, according to the latest reports.
Spends heavily to invite western singers
Anant and Radhika’s official wedding has not even begun yet and the reports and rumors are already flooding in. According to Hindustan Times, Canadian-born singer Justin Bieber took the stage at a wedding music gala in Mumbai on May 5, singing a string of hit singles, and the video of his performance went viral on social media. Bieber was reportedly paid $10 million for his performance, compared to about $6.3 million for Barbados-born pop star Rihanna’s performance at the couple’s pre-wedding party in March this year. The couple also invited more than 800 guests on a four-day luxury Mediterranean cruise in June this year to warm up for their wedding.
Famous Mumbai-based fashion designer Ranjit Rodricks told The Times UK that the line-up for the official wedding is still under negotiation and famous singers from Europe and America like Adele and Lana Del Rey and Drake are expected to perform. The report said that there is little disclosure of the details of the official wedding, all the staff preparing for the wedding have signed a confidentiality agreement, they can not even bring cell phones into the Jio World Congress Center.
According to reports, Anant and Radhika held a “community wedding” at Reliance Corporate Park in Mumbai, marrying over 50 underprivileged couples. In addition to a year’s worth of groceries and household items, the brides received gold jewelry and a check worth INR 101,000 (INR 10,000 is about $120).
The Times of India stated that the official wedding would be conducted in accordance with the traditional rituals of Gujarat, which include stealing of shoes, musical evenings, turmeric powder smearing ceremonies, etc., and that the guests attending the wedding were asked to dress in traditional Indian attire.
Seal off the vicinity of the venue
This makes all of India jaw-dropping luxury wedding but because of the “nuisance” triggered the discontent of the people of Mumbai. Hindustan Times reported on the 6th, Mumbai Traffic Police announced on social media platform X on the 5th, July 5, 4 pm to 24 pm and July 12 to 15, 1 pm to 24 pm, due to the Jio World Congress Center’s “public events”, in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic to the center of part of the road to implement During these hours, no vehicles will be allowed to enter the Jio World Congress Center except for “event” vehicles.
Traffic control for the smooth running of the wedding has sparked complaints from the public. Indian netizens accused ordinary people living in Mumbai of having to bear the cost of a “private event”, mocking the declaration of the days as a “public holiday”, while others said it reflected the collusion between power and money in India.
Local citizens in Mumbai told the Global Times special correspondent, with the traffic police notification of the time period does not match the 7th afternoon around the Jio World Congress Center has been closed to the road, as the 7th is a weekend, most people did not go to work, the impact on life is not great, but if you wait until the 8th is also closed to the road, it will be a great inconvenience to the people’s travel, when the network of the antipathy may be increased.
Responding positively to Modi’s call
CNN said the wedding of the Ambani family set a new sample for the future of luxury weddings in India. The head of a wedding company told CNN that the wedding of the Ambani family will affect the Indian wedding market in many ways, including influencing wedding trends, stimulating the demand for wedding items, spreading cultural heritage, and even stimulating the economy.
Wedding season has become an important part of India’s economy, with the number of weddings across the country expected to reach 4.2 million during this year’s wedding season (January 15 to July 15), which will generate Rs. 5.5 trillion in revenues, according to India Today. According to a previous report by US-based investment bank Jefferies, the Indian wedding industry is valued at $130 billion, almost double that of the US, and ranked second in the world, just behind China. The report mentions that the average cost of an Indian wedding is around $15,000, which is almost double the average cost of a pre-school to college education ($8,000) in the country.
The Indian government also sees huge economic benefits behind weddings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on a radio program in November last year that he was perplexed by the fact that some of India’s largest families were having weddings abroad. He said that, as in the case of “Make in India”, a campaign called “Indian weddings” should be launched. According to the Hindustan Times, while attending the foundation stone laying ceremony of a hospital in Gujarat in January this year, Modi said that weddings abroad were inappropriate and would lead to a large amount of wealth flowing out of the country, and asked participants to boycott the phenomenon of overseas marriages.
Anant previously in an interview with “India Today” also said, he chose to get married in India is to respond to Modi’s call. India Today believes that the Ambani family chose to hold the wedding in the country to other Indians “signal”, greatly increasing the prestige of Modi’s “Indian wedding”.
