Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding was one of the most extravagant events of 2024. The celebrations in Jamnagar and Mumbai drew several A-list celebrities, including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aamir Khan. The star-studded affair also featured high-profile international guests such as Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, and John Cena. In an exclusive interview with SCREEN, the couple’s wedding photographer Himanshu Patel, founder of Epic Stories, shared behind the scenes insights from the ceremonies. He revealed that during the haldi function, Salman Khan and Ranveer Singh were seen dancing with childlike joy.
During the conversation, he recalled the Khan trio’s (Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir) iconic stage performance during the pre-wedding festivities and said, “It has never happened before that all the three Khans are dancing together. No director or producer made it happen. I remember when they were on the stage, it was one of the most iconic moments. People were the most excited in that performance, cheering loudly for them. It was the most iconic moment of the night. Everyone was having the time of their life during Rihanna and Katy Perry performance as well.”
Photos and videos from Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s haldi ceremony quickly went viral. The unique celebration featured guests covered in sandalwood and turmeric paste, with flower petals showered over them. Taking about the highlights of the festivity, Himanshu Patel said, “The special thing about that haldi was that Salman, Ranveer, they were dancing like kids. It was something we never saw before. It was the most crazy function, mad festival. They were the life of the party. Janhvi, Shikhar, Ananya, everyone threw haldi and flowers on each other.”
Himanshu is still in awe of the grandeur of the Ambani wedding. Himanshu shared, “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We never thought this is how it would be. We were told to keep a big team size – around 15 photographers. It was a first time for us as well. The moment we reached Jamnagar, we were shocked. When we signed up, we were not informed that this will be something nobody ever imagined.”
“Things kept adding on later and it became a huge celebration. We got to know about the grandeur a month prior to the event. No vendor would have known about how happening it would be. I don’t think anyone can ever pull this off in the future,” he added.
When asked if there were any particular instructions given to him regarding the output, the celebrity photographer revealed, “There was no specific instruction, but being a wedding photographer with so many celebs around, you have to understand their privacy and magnitude of those personalities. We had internal meetings about being invisible and discreet. It’s not a usual wedding that you can be anywhere. There were basic set protocols, but nothing besides that.”
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“Everywhere we looked, there was a nice frame for us to capture. There were A-lister celebs in all the functions, either performing or enjoying the festivities. But yes, when we did our recce before the functions in Jamnagar and Mumbai, it was decided that our main focus would be Anant, Radhika and their families. Even while covering the celebrities, we ensured to capture all the family and couple moments,” Himanshu concluded.
The extravagant wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant was a six-day celebration held in Mumbai from July 12 to July 30, 2024, across venues including the Antilia residence and the Jio World Convention Centre. Their pre-wedding festivities took place in March 2024 in Jamnagar, Gujarat, and spanned three days.
