India's mega-wedding: Party like a billionaire - The Global Story podcast, BBC World Service

Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, celebrated his son’s marriage with a series of star-studded bashes. The guest list included Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Kim Kardashian. Katy Perry, Rihanna and Justin Bieber gave private performances.

Lucy Hockings speaks to BBC Business presenter Rahul Tandon and BBC India Business correspondent Nikhil Inamdar about the celebration of the century, and what this lavish party says about India’s ultra-rich.

00:00 Introduction
02:34 The size of the Ambani wedding
05:02 Social media and celebrity impact of the wedding
07:08 India's 'soft power'
08:10 Showcasing the Ambanis and Reliance
09:06 Impact on Mumbai
09:59 Overt displays of wealth and inequality in India
11:52 Huge cost of Indian weddings
12:34 Influence of the Ambani wedding on trends
13:13 Who is Mukesh Ambani?
14:02 What do we know about the couple?
15:55 'It's not unusual to not talk about the bride and groom'
16:59 Can we expect more events like this from India's billionaires?
17:57 The joy and celebration of Indian weddings
18:29 Celebrities attending

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[nutzky]

It's funny for me because "am bani" in Romanian means "I have money".

[mercedesbenz]

They celebrated it more because its was the last marriage in the Ambani family for this generation. Next wedding they will have after 30 years of their kids.

[azN]

A poor roadside vegetable vendor here in my neighbourhood invites more than 2000 guests to his wedding to a sumptuous feast. Comon, the Ambanis are rich, even by your standard.

[roxymax]

One man's spending is another man's income

[MaroonRays]

The literally spent less than 0.5 % of their wealth combining all pre-wedding, wedding and receptions

[anti-human]

That wedding is not even 1% of Ambani wealth, so middle class people shouldn't copy them. Ambani's used their own properties i.e Jio World Convention Centre and their own home. Looks like they wanted to advertise it for future orders.

[carlafrancisco]

They are billionaires and did a lavish wedding that made no difference in their fortune. Some people have nothing and spend thousands on a wedding. Do you really think that they are the ones overspending and wasting money on a ceremony? Anyway, everybody has the right to live life their way and spend their money as they please.

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[nithinpavithran]

British frustration of missed opportunity to loot is evident 😂

[rangarajanraghavachari]

BBC should first do a program on the 45 trillion USD that Britain owes to India after 76 years.Why nobody is talking about it.Manchester was built on indian skill and cotton and BBC should be ashamed to do such onesided program without content .Give tbe 45 trillion and Indias poverty will disappear at one shot or UK should become part of India to reverse 200 years of loot of its wealth which made the worlds richest country poor in first place.

[GyanPrakash]

India is a Country where you can see a Rolls Royce and a Bull stuck in Traffic simultaneously.

[gauridhamnaskar]

Thank god they didn’t use taxpayer money to fund their son’s wedding! The British are ok with that I’m sure

[Dewdrops]

BBC pray tell how much of the taxpayers money was spent on the British royal weddings over the years? At least the Ambani's spent their own money and pumped it into the economy. They also spent their money helping others before and after the wedding.

[prashantkorukonda]

What would you say about the Royal weddings in UK?I think it is fashionable to criticize everything Indian.

[mercedesbenz]

Don't think Ambanis are just rude and bad because they are rich. They are very cultured and always much Charity work. In fact India's internet revolution was brought by Mukesh Ambani. He gave unlimited 4g internet through jio(sim card) for 1 year straight. And even after 1 year, the charges were very low.

[aadukia]

I can imagine the pain western countries must be experiencing looking at the extravagance… their snake charmer tag seems to be biting them

[jsalvarez]

This is hypocrisy that BBC is discussing this. They spent their own money. Used a facility they own. Unlike British royalty, who uses taxpayer's money for the wedding of its family members and whose own wealth partly came from plundered India's wealth.

[swap]

This wedding was a huge business development opportunity for the Ambani companies. That is why they invited celebrities to launch brands and get coverage in the Western world. I am surprised people don't see that and instead complain about poverty in India. Apples and oranges.

[HIMANSHU]

Perfect display of Hinduism... i just loved that...

[roopaashok]

No body needs to discuss the way the bride and the groom feel about each other . It’s totally a private affair . Can we Indian question about William and Kate or harry and Megan and say whether there was love