Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s lavish wedding festivities were attended by several VIPs. Besides the two pre-wedding events (the Jamnagar celebrations and the luxury Mediterranean cruise), the week leading up to the big day was also an eventful one - featuring a sangeet, a garba night, a mass wedding for the underprivileged, a mameru ceremony, haldi, mehendi, a Shiv Shakti Pooja and a Graha Shanti Pooja.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former UK PMs Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, reality TV stars Kim and Khloe Kardashian, T20 champions Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Rajya Sabha member Sudha Murty, politicians like Akhilesh Yadav were just some of the high-profile guests who attended the wedding. Besides friends and family, most of Bollywood was in attendance at the festivities too, with a few notable exceptions.
Here is a look at some VIPs we expected to see at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding festivities, but did not:
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma
The power couple was not spotted at any of the pre-wedding festivities or the main event itself. While Kohli’s teammates attended the Ambani wedding, he flew to UK shortly before the start of the festivities to be with wife Anushka Sharma and their two children.
Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan
Another notable absence at the wedding festivities - Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor chose to miss the pre-wedding and post-wedding celebrations in Mumbai. The couple did, however, attend the three-day bash in Jamnagar, where other guests included Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
Deepinder Goyal
{{/usCountry}}Another notable absence at the wedding festivities - Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor chose to miss the pre-wedding and post-wedding celebrations in Mumbai. The couple did, however, attend the three-day bash in Jamnagar, where other guests included Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
Deepinder Goyal
{{/usCountry}}The younger generation of Indian startup founders was under-represented at the wedding. Founders like Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal, Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal and Lenskart’s Peyush Bansal were not spotted at any of the events celebrating Radhika and Anant’s union.
Aamir Khan
Another Bollywood bigwig who chose to give the Mumbai festivities a miss was Aamir Khan. Although the star had set the stage on fire in Jamnagar with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, he was conspicuous in his absence at the big day itself.
Nithin Kamath
The CEO of Zerodha was not photographed at either the Jamnagar festivities, the luxury cruise or the Mumbai wedding, leading social media users to believe that he had not been invited. However, his younger brother Nikhil Kamath had been part of the celebrations in Jamnagar.
Akshay Kumar
Akshay Kumar and wife Twinkle Khanna attended Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's wedding reception on July 15. The actor gave the wedding on July 12 a miss as he was recovering from Covid-19.