“Good evening everyone. It is my honour to be here tonight. I have never been to India. And thanks to the Ambani family, I am here tonight. Anant and Radiki [Radhika], thank you for having me here,” she said.

Whoops. Anyhow, it looks like she had a blast – as did the hosts and all of their 1,000-plus guests at the three-day prenuptial bash taking place four months before the actual ceremony.

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All eyes were on Anant, 28, and his long-time girlfriend Radhika, 29, who will tie the knot in July. Radhika is the daughter of Viren Merchant, CEO of Encore Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., and entrepreneur Shaila Merchant.

Such festivities keep up with the Ambani family’s tradition of lavish and over-the-top parties while displaying the Indian billionaire’s economic and political clout.

However, seeing billionaires splash out millions of dollars in a country known for having one of the biggest wealth disparities on the globe hasn’t sat well with many netizens, who have taken to social media to express their distaste towards the ostentatiousness of it all. “Thousands of poor can be fed by the amount of money spent on this wedding,” wrote one person. Others took to the family’s defence, with another user stating: “This is literally how South Asian weddings are celebrated. Y’all just hating cus ya got bland weddings.”

Here is everything you need to know about the family and the bash that captivated the country.

The celebrity and billionaire guest list

Guests arrived in style, per The National News, with Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan and daughter Suhana being seen arriving separately in a Range Rover and Rolls-Royce.

The guest list also included Mohammed Bin Jassim al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar; Stephen Harper, former Canadian prime minister; and Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema.

“I might want that,” Chan adds.

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The extravagant itinerary

The three-day pre-wedding bash offers a glimpse of the opulence expected at the July wedding.

The Ambanis celebrated it at the family’s hometown of Jamnagar – a city of around 600,000 in a near-desert part of Gujarat state – where they also have the business’ main oil refinery.

Guests donned jungle-themed outfits to visit an animal rescue centre run by the groom-to-be, Anant. Known as “Vantara” or “Star Of The Forest,” the 3,000-acre (about 1,200-hectare) centre houses abused, injured and endangered animals, particularly elephants.

The invitation also said guests would start each day with a new dress code, mood boards and an army of hair stylists, make-up artists and Indian wear designers at their hotel to help them prepare.

There were also traditional Hindu ceremonies in a temple complex. The guests, many arriving by chartered planes, were served 500 dishes created by around 100 chefs. On Wednesday, the Ambani family organised a community food service for 51,000 people living in nearby villages.

Who is Mukesh Ambani?

Mukesh, 66, is currently the world’s 10th richest man with a net worth of US$115 billion, according to Forbes. He is also the richest person in Asia.

His Reliance Industries is a massive conglomerate, reporting over US$100 billion in annual revenue, with interests ranging from petrochemicals and oil and gas, to telecoms and retail.

Under Mukesh’s leadership, Reliance – founded by his father in 1966 – sparked a telecoms price war with the launch of the 4G phone and broadband service Jio in 2016. Today, it has more than 420 million subscribers and offers 5G services. Earlier this week, Disney struck an US$8.5 billion deal to merge its India business with Ambani’s Reliance Industries, forming a new media giant.

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Mukesh’s critics say his company has flourished mainly because of political connections during the Congress governments in the 1970s and 80s and subsequently under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule after 2014. They say “crony capitalism” in India has helped certain corporations, such as Mukesh’s, thrive.

Mukesh has started passing the torch to his two sons and daughter. His eldest son, Akash Ambani, is now chairperson of Reliance Jio; his daughter, Isha, oversees retail; and the youngest, Anant, has been inducted into the new energy business.

Extravagant parties are the Ambanis’ speciality

In 2018, when his daughter married, Mukesh made headlines because of the grand celebrations, with pop sensation Beyoncé performing at the pre-wedding festivities. At the time, former US secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were among those who rubbed shoulders with Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars in the western Indian city of Udaipur.

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

Additional reporting by Faye Bradley