To find the Ambani wedding distasteful

The silver lining is that a lot of money is being SPENT rather than hoarded in some bank accounts or trapped in assets somewhere - that's a lot of people being paid for services and products, a big influx of money being put into the economy in general.

I think it's all a bit grim - but all for the wealthy spending their money over hoarding it.

I suppose 500 million is now in the hands of business that supplied the wedding rather than just gaining interest. I did read they paid for the weddings of if I think 100 couples and gave them a years supply of groceries or something like that. It did look over the top.

What's useless about this statement? I'm baffled on behalf of the person who posted it

The principle remains

The kindest spin to put on it is that the wedding will bring employment to many people however tacky it looks to outsiders.

What an utterly useless statement.

Well he has a lot of children to provide for so no wonder he is hard up; we don't even know for sure how many.

Certainly tasteless. Also, such disparity of wealth is obscene. Shows what sort of political convictions T. Blair had when he is prepared to show up at such a shindig.

It's not just the west thinking it's obscene, it's the same in much of India, my Indian colleagues and the drivers and shopkeepers etc I chatted to last month in Maharashtra were also totally appalled by the ostentation. My taxi driver in Mumbai drove me past their mansion so he could rant about how rubbish they were and how great more reserved rich people like Ratan Tata are!

I'm sure they're lovely people and very in love, but surely your average 7 day huge Indian wedding would show that just as well as a multi-month extravaganza.

the UK doesn't need to send any aid actually. India has plenty of wealth already it's just very unequally distributed.

Nothing to do with their culture. Spending £500 million, which is the estimated cost, is obscene.

Yep, this.

I disagree
I think that will have been organised by someone

Based on my experience of attending lavish Indian parties.

A never ending social event sounds hideous to me.

It is not the inequality that gets me. Billionaires spend everyday on yachts and crazy houses and cars and jewellery and artwork etc.

What I find offensive here is the deliberate attempt to make everyone aware of it. The press must have ignored these celebrations for months but it got to the point where they couldn't anymore, probably because of the high number of high profile celebrities involved. And the fact persons of public interest such as the blairs are thinking it's acceptable to appear at this event for a fee.

The reason they have invited all these people, in drips and drabs, is to ensure the continued focus of the media over a sustained period of time. It's quite calculating.

If we focused less on whether we approve of how rich people spend their money and more on whether those rich people should be as rich as they are in the first place, we would be far better off.

I don't really care what a multibillionaire does with whatever of his money is left after he makes a fair contribution to society. What matters is whether he is making that fair contribution to society.

People obsessing about things which they have (and should have) no control over when it comes to the super rich is a very convenient way of keeping people from focusing on the things they do have control over - like the taxation that the super rich are subject to.

To be honest no self respecting Hollywood celebs turned up. The Kardashians are just clowns for hire. They’ll go anywhere for money.

I hope the celebrities who got paid to attend gave large donations to Indian charities/ some got paid 5 million dollars/pounds? Probably not.

I do worry about the huge food waste though - I can’t imagine the Ambanis being thoughtful enough to distribute leftovers post each event to charity organisations that then feed the poor and homeless.

Meh, can’t get worked up about it. Whether you spend a £1000, £10 000 or millions on a wedding, there will always be someone or a charity that could have benefitted from that money.
A PP mentioned that the amount spent on the wedding was <1% of the family’s overall wealth. Who knows what they have donated to charitable causes - perhaps nothing, perhaps a little, perhaps a lot?

The Royal Family have spent a plenty of money on events, holidays, homes, castles, weddings etc and associated security over the years.

When I think of the poverty in the world I find the money spent on the wedding celebration obscene.
Utterly disgusting.

I have Indian heritage so have been following the spectacle closely. You’ll be delighted to know there’s another raft of celebrations up here in London for FOUR days next week, with Adele and Taylor Swift rumoured to be performing and the same Bollywood celebs attending along with a rash of Hollywood celebs.

Delightfully tacky.

The father of the groom is the ninth richest man in the world and the richest in Asia. Hence why everyone is queuing up to kiss the ring.

well he can now

I agree.