Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding was nothing short of a grand affair. In an exclusive interview with India.com, Musician Thomson Andrews who performed at the wedding, shared his experience.
Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani’s youngest son, Anant Ambani, married Radhika Merchant on July 12 in what is being hailed as the world’s most expensive wedding. Their wedding saw almost every singer performing along with many folk artists such as Akon, Diljit Dosanjh, Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal, A. R. Rahman and many others. One of them was songwriter and singer Thomson Andrews, who was part of Pritam’s team. In an exclusive interview with india.com, Thomson shared his overall experience from the wedding. Moreover, he shared his thoughts on the staggering amount spent by the Ambanis.
Speaking to us, the singer said, “I was very overwhelmed, excited and happy when I first heard that I will be performing at the Ambani wedding. We were fortunate to be called first for the pre-wedding event in Jamnagar, which was already a star-studded affair. To be invited again for main function in Mumbai was such a huge honour and showed that they truly appreciated our work. I’m very grateful to Pritam Da and we had a wonderful time.”
Thomson, who is a trained vocalist with an experience of 15 years in the industry, admitted that he was nervous performing live at the high-profile wedding. “I was nervous about who would be attending and felt the need to deliver my best performance. With the top 1% of the elite present and performing for the Ambanis and other A-listers, it was quite nerve-wracking. Even though I’ve been performing for 15 years and have done shows globally, there’s always a mix of excitement and nervousness”, he said. He also mentioned that the Ambani family is very passionate about music and fond of Bollywood songs. Andrews further said, “It’s nice to see that someone with influence and financial resources is investing in art, music and our cultural representation. I felt very proud that my entire fraternity is here, not just singers but the whole entertainment industry in general.”
Thomson Andrews Speaks on Anant Ambani’s Rs 5,000 Crore Wedding
With the pictures and videos flooding online, it was clear that the expense of Anant-Radhika’s wedding was exceptionally high. The reported estimated cost of the entire extravaganza was between Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. When asked to confirm about the budget of the Ambani wedding, Andrews said, “Bhayi agar koi apna khud ka paisa laga raha hai toh humein kya? Why should we pry into their expenses? As Indians, we have a culture of hosting grand weddings. Even at my own wedding, I had 400-450 guests, which is quite a phenomenon compared to the West, where having 200 guests would be shocker for them. It’s part of our culture. How much they spent is not my concern. What matters is that the celebration was beautiful, with so many people involved and everything done so well.”
Talking about the arrangements, Andrews mentioned that everything was so “desi” that he was left completely mesmerised. He said, “The beauty of Indian culture was showed at this wedding. Everything was organized so beautifully in an Indian format. When I was there, I felt immense pride seeing people from different countries come together to experience our culture- from the food and decor to the music. So, it was a very proud moment for me as an Indian artist.”
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