Khaleej Times

NITA AMBANI: WALTZING INTO HER FIFTIES

When an invite arrives from India’s richest man, never mind if you are a blue blooded tycoon, a Bollywood star or a top cricketer. You better land up at the venue, no matter what!

- SUDHA MENON sudhamenon­2006@gmail.com

FLOWERS FROM FLORENCE, a waltz instructor from Paris and the brightest stars from Bollywood. If you are Nita Ambani, wife of India’s richest man, industrial­ist Mukesh Ambani, you can have it all. And then some more.

The majestic Umaid Bahavan Palace in the desert town of Udaipur in Rajasthan goes by the name of Blue City and last weekend it lived up to that name when 32 chartered flights flew in bluebloode­d tycoons, artists, actors, politician­s and sports people to bring in Nita Ambani’s 50th birthday.

They might have schedules that are blocked months in advance but when an invite arrives from the country’s richest man, you simply land up at the venue, no matter what. Which is what Arcelor Mittal Chairperso­n Laxmipati Mittal, Mahindra & Mahindra Chairperso­n, Anand Mahindra and their spouses did. Actors Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor, and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar who is a mere days away from retiring from a very illustriou­s career, put on their best threads, sported their best smiles and joined the revelry.

It is not everyone who gets invited to a party by Nita Ambani and gets treated to a dance performanc­e by the lady herself but that is exactly what happened. The trained classical dancer decided to celebrate her birthday with a special performanc­e for her guests, as did Rehman, Karishma Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Juhi Chawla. Like we said, these comprise Bollywood’s blue blood but the Ambani’s are known for their penchant for Bollywood and the latter, are more than happy to oblige.

Security at the beauteous Umaid Bhavan and Bal Samand Lake Palace were so tight, even a fly could not get in — the Ambanis had flown in their own personal security guards and made sure the hotels brought in their own security so that there was no threat to the VIP guests and no intrusion into their privacy either.

Having made sure that her guests could let down their hair and have a good time without having their images splashed across the media, the hostess, co-owner of IPL team, the Mumbai Indians and founder of the Dhirubhai Ambani Internatio­nal School, settled down to have a good time herself.

We are sure she had a memorable time. Which woman wouldn’t? Especially when her doting husband has flown down a waltz instructor from Paris so he could serenade and woo her with a special Viennese Waltz?

We are sure the lady is still glowing from all the attention and pampering from her family and friends and actually wishing the next birthday chugs along quickly.

 ?? —Getty Images ?? RICHIE RICH... When you have bags of money like Nita Ambani does, a birthday bash is small change.
—Getty Images RICHIE RICH... When you have bags of money like Nita Ambani does, a birthday bash is small change.

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