Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani

Social media is frenzy with videos and photographs of celebrities arriving in Jamnagar for the pre-wedding extravaganza of the youngest son of the Ambanis, with the likes of pop-icon Rihanna and many celebrities landing in Jamnagar.

The youngest of their three children, Anant Ambani, director on the boards of RIL and Reliance Foundation, is set to get married to Radhika Merchant on July 12 this year in Mumbai.

Pre-wedding celebrations are being organised at Reliance Township area near Jamnagar from today to Mar 3. The high-profile event will be memorable on many fronts as guests from across the world are expected to attend the grand pre-wedding ceremony.

Preparations have been going on since the last two months in Jamnagar. The ceremony will have several events graced by artists from home and abroad.

A huge stage, lighting, sound systems, luxurious arrangements, and time-to-time tea-snack-dinner menus for the guests' choice of food have also been prepared for this lavish programme.

A list of dignitaries has been invited, including leaders from the Reliance and Ambani families, political dignitaries, celebrities of the movie industry, singers, musicians, cricketers, and businesspersons from India and abroad.

Stage shows and dance-music rehearsals are ongoing and bookings have been made in many big hotels in Jamnagar city and the surrounding area, besides the arrangement of many flight landings etc. Elaborate security arrangements have been implemented for the guests.

For guests from home and abroad, more than 4,000 guests are expected to attend the pre-wedding function, and arrangements have been made including 30 planes, 1,000 cars, 150 electric golf cars and 50 luxury buses.

Celebrities arriving at Anant-Radhika pre-wedding

International pop star Rihanna is slated to perform. Artist B Praak has also arrived. Other artists like Arijit Singh, Ajay-Atul, and Diljit Dosanjh will also grace the musical feast.

Magician David Blaine will mesmerise the guests with his magic tricks.

B-town galore

The couple who just announced their pregnancy on social media today, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, have landed in Jamnagar for the ceremony. 

Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Rajinikanth, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Vicky Kaushal, Katrina Kaif, Siddharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani, Shraddha Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit Nene, and Chunky Panday were to remain present with their families.

Director-producer Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra with Rani Mukerji were also spotted in Jamnagar.

Orhan Awatramani aka ‘Orry’, who works as a ‘Special Project Manager’ at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) also arrived to attend the ceremonies.

Stars from the sports fraternity

Cricketers Ishan Kishan, Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rashid Khan, along with badminton ace couple Saina Nehwal with  Parupalli Kashyap, were seen flocking at Jamnagar for Anant-Radhika’s pre-wedding.

Business tycoons and World leaders

The who’s who of the business world, Bill Gates of Microsoft; Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai; Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Ivanka Trump, who has already arrived at Jamnagar; Joshua Kushner; Yasir El Rumayan, chairperson of Saudi Arabia; Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim, PM of Qatar are likely to be present.

Not only that, former Swedish PM Carl Bildt; former Canadian PM Stephen Harper; Ajit Jain, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway; former BP CEO Bernard Looney, who has already paid his presence; former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; Klaus Schwab, chairperson of the World Economic Forum; Mark Tucker, group chairman of HSBC Holdings; investor Carlos Slim, are expected at the Jamnagar function.

Indian business honchos

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Godrej family, Nandan Nilekani, Sanjeev Goenka, Rishad Premji, Uday Kotak, Adar Poonawala, Sunil Mittal, Pawan Munjal, Roshni Nadar, Nikhil Kamath, Ronnie Screwvala, and Dilip Sanghvi have also been sent invitations.

World Cuisine

The menu will include Japanese food, Parsi food, and Thai food. 70 dishes will be served for breakfast, 250 for lunch, and 250 for dinner.

There will be a special Indori Sarafa food counter for the guests with foods like Indori Kachori, Indori Poha, and Upma will be prepared by chefs from Indore.

The grand welcome

Anant-Radhika were given a grand welcome by the villagers when they arrived at Navania village in Jamnagar for the pre-wedding ceremony on Feb 28. They were welcomed by wearing ‘Halari’ turbans. Anant Ambani greeted the Ahirani sisters and took their blessings. He reached Vibhapar village near Jamnagar where the villagers warmly welcomed him.

A lok dayro and banquet were organised by the Ambani family at Nani Khavdi village along with the pre-wedding festivities. A dinner was organised for the students in Jodia’s art school. Similarly, a large number of women of the Ahir community joined celebrations at the banquet, organised at Lohana Girls’ Hostel in Jamnagar.

Anand-Radhika pre-wedding ceremonies commence today

According to the invite for the pre-wedding, each day will have a special theme.

March 1

‘An evening in everland’. Guests will be dressed in elegant cocktail attire.

March 2

A walk in the wild will be held. Guests are given a ‘Jungle Fever’ dress code.

An animal rescue and rehabilitation tour will be held in Jamnagar. Outdoor activities will be organised for the guests after which the guests will experience the ‘Mela Rouge’. Guests are asked to dress in South Asian attire for the occasion.

March 3

There are two events on this day. One is Tusker Trails and the other is Signature. Guests will enjoy the natural beauty of Jamnagar on Tusker Trail.  Guests will be able to see some of these wild animals including elephants.

Guests are encouraged to dress in heritage Indian looks for the Signature event. The event will be held in a special temple complex erected at Jamgarh Reliance Campus. 14 special temples have been constructed here for these occasions.

Also Read:

Deepika, Ranveer announce date of first child’s arrival: It’s going to be September

Two youths, one from Gujarat, held for extortion-cum-death threats to Mukesh Ambani

I’m still the CEO, management remains unchanged: Byju Raveendran