The Indian wedding of the year is getting closer.
Anant Ambani, 29, the youngest son of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani (one of the world's richest men) and his wife Nita, is set to wed Radhika Merchant, 29, the daughter of industrialist Viren Merchant, on July 12 in Mumbai.
Ahead of the wedding, invitations for the sangeet have now been sent out. The personalised invite, which The National has seen, reveals the event will take place on July 5 at the Grand Theatre in the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai.
The theme of the night is a “celebration of hearts” and promises guests a “night of song, dance and wonder” with a dress code of “Indian regional glam”.
Further details were revealed last month about the wedding from the save-the-date card. Designed in red and gold, it was revealed the three-day celebration will begin on July 12 with the “shubh vivaah”, or auspicious wedding. The dress code for the event is listed as “Indian traditional”.
This will be followed by a “shubh aashirdwad” (the latter word means blessings) on July 13, with guests expected to be dressed in “Indian formal” attire. Celebrations will then culminate in the “mangal utsav”, or the wedding reception, on July 14, with “Indian chic” being the dress code.
Indian weddings typically go on for multiple days. They comprise a haldi ceremony, mehndi ritual, sangeet and wedding ceremony and end with a reception party. Since their engagement, the couple have held two pre-wedding bashes with Rihanna and the Backstreet Boys both performing.
The Ambanis are not ones to cut corners at family weddings. Anant's sister Isha Ambani's star-studded 7 billion rupee ($86 million) nuptials in 2018, is still the most expensive Indian wedding of all time and included a performance by Beyonce.
What is the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre?
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The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre opened in Mumbai on March 2023. All photos: NMACC -
Founder Nita Ambani says the centre is 'the realisation of a lifelong dream' -
The Grand Theatre can seat 2,000 -
The centre also includes a 1,486-square-metre Art House for exhibitions and a space called The Cube for experimental shows -
Ambani is known to be a patron of the arts, which reflects in the interior of her cultural centre that houses various artworks, including this piece Closet Quarries II, by artist Reena Kallat -
City Obscure (2022) by Vibha Galhotra at the centre, which aims to offer emerging and established artists a platform -
Kamal Kunj, an artwork by Raghunandan Sharma and a team of artists from the city of Nathdwara, covers a wall in the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, which also has a temple in-situ
The centre, more commonly known as NMACC, opened in March last year.
Designed by American architects TVS Design, the building lies within the precinct of Mumbai's much larger Jio World Centre, a business and leisure hub at the heart of Bandra Kurla Complex's commercial district. The Grand Theatre has a capacity of 2,000 seats and was designed for immersive experiences.
