Boris Johnson dances with ex-Austrian PM as he and Tony Blair enjoy India’s ‘wedding of the century’
Boris Johnson waved his hands in the air. Next to him, the former prime minister of Austria Sebastian Kurtz smiled and tapped his feet.
As Bhangra music thudded out against a backdrop of flame-spewing TV screens, a slew of world leaders, celebrities and business tycoons hit the dancefloor on Friday night at the “wedding of the century” in Mumbai.
They had come to see Anant Ambani, the 29-year-old son of Asia’s richest man, marry Radhika Mechant, his fiancee, in a ceremony that brought parts of the city to a stand-still.
Arriving for the festivities, Sir Tony Blair and his wife Cherie paused and smiled for the cameras, shuffling into the right spot on the walkway at the request of waiting photographers. Unlike Mr Johnson – who opted for his usual suit and tie - the Labour leader chose a black sherwani jacket with a white pocket square.
Whether the former prime ministers shared a word inside the 15,000-acre wedding complex is unclear. But new, unlikely and sometimes frankly dream-like connections were made at the start of a four-day extravaganza that would draw an appreciative whistle from Jay Gatsby himself.
As Mr Johnson danced with son Wilf on his shoulders, Bollywood actress Ananya Pandaya leaned in to flash a V-sign. The tail end of Carrie Johnson’s sweeping silver cape brushed the floor as she cradled another of the couple’s three children.
Somewhere in the building, Mike Tyson, the former boxing champion, was within feet of Murray Auchinloss, the CEO of BP; the artist Jeff Koons might have bumped into Jean-Claude Van Damme, the actor.
Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Promising that the event would appear on a forthcoming episode of the reality show starring her family, Kim Kardashian swept through the halls in a red bra-like top, tassels dangling down her midriff, followed, as ever, by sideways glances and smartphone cameras.
In total, 1,200 guests crammed in for the wedding estimated to cost almost £250m, or 0.5 per cent of the Ambani family’s fortune.
For the traditional Hindu ceremony on Friday, Mr Ambani’s mother sported a 100-carat diamond in her headpiece. The couple gazed into each other’s eyes, with the bride wreathed in bangles, jewels and a gold choker necklace.
Mukesh Ambani, the father of the groom, is the founder of Reliance Industries, a giant conglomerate that includes some of the world’s largest oil refineries, TV and entertainment ventures, as well as the largest mobile phone network in the country.
Wealth gap
The family lives on the top floors of a $2 billion, 27-storey skyscraper that has come to symbolise the ever-extending gulf between India’s ultra-wealthy and its poorest citizens, who have watched the wedding with a mix of awe and resentment.
Before the dancing began in earnest, guests were offered tins of caviar or “ultra-realistic” cakes made to look like mangoes, limes and other fruit.
Indian cricket fans gawped at footage of the T20 World Champion and Hardik Pandya, the captain of the Mumbai Indians, shouting an order for “two tequilas” through the crowd.
Other sporting figures were also in good form. Fifa president Gianni Infantino jumped on stage during a performance by Indo-Canadian singer AP Dhillon, at one point waving a toy axe above his head.
even FIFA President Gianni Infantino is dancing at Ambani Wedding 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/tQcMwDmLXf
— sohom 🇦🇷 (@AwaaraHoon) July 12, 2024
Ranveer Singh, one of India’s biggest movie stars, grasped Mr Infantino in a hug from behind and propelled him to the front of the platform. The pair swayed from side-to-side, as the beaming Fifa boss held his arms outstretched in Titanic-like reverie.
On Saturday, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was expected to make an appearance. In the morning, he laid the foundation stone of two tunnels in the city, before he was set to travel to the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre. Roads to the venue have been plastered with posters of his face, raising eyebrows as to whether the prime minister was concerned he might be forgotten in all the glitz and glamour.
Meanwhile, criticism continued to bubble out from political leaders and locals left on the fringes.
CENA DOING THE YOU CAN'T SEE ME BHANGRA. HE'S THE GOAT MAN 😭😭😭
pic.twitter.com/9eFFzVHTVV— Humble Wrestling (@WrestlingHumble) July 12, 2024
Thomas Isaac, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), remarked: “In a country where the monthly income of 90 per cent of households is below ₹10,000, (£100) an Ambani wedding costing $320 million is obscene. While legally it may be their money, such ostentatious expenditure is seen as detrimental to both the environment and the welfare of the poor.”
Locals remain frustrated that the wedding has led to the closure of many roads around the Birla Kurla Complex, a hub of top banks and IT companies.
Heavy rain
“The public buses have suddenly disappeared and we are forced to travel nearly two miles to the nearest train station in these heavy rains. India has been taken over by the elites and poor people like me are suffering,” said Jairam Pawar, 55, who works as a loader in the BKC.
As guests arrived in private planes and criss-crossed the city in SUVS, rickshaw drivers found their usual pick-up spots blocked.
“The wedding has badly affected our earnings for the past week,” said Devraj Kumar. Those earnings, in all likelihood, would barely pay for a single cake designed to look like a lemon.
By Saturday, Mr Johnson ditched his suit and donned a tradtional salwar kameez as the party re-started.