Mumbai: Radhika Merchant, Anant Ambani's fiancé, gives first solo Bharatnatyam performance

Mumbai, a city that generally has a vibrant cultural scene, but has been muted in the last few months, came alive once again with a Bharatnatyam performance that everyone is talking about.

It was the ‘arangetram’ or ‘ascent to the stage’ of Radhika Merchant, the ‘bride to be’ to Anant Ambani, the younger son of Nita and Mukesh Ambani.

The performance was held on Sunday at the Grand Theater in the Jio World Centre at BKC. The show, which was Radhika’s first on-stage solo performance, was eagerly attended by Merchant and Ambani families as well as their friends from the worlds of public service, business and the arts. The Ambanis and the Merchants were there to warmly welcome each guest.

Of course, all Covid protocols were followed to the strictest, including testing prior to the event.

In all this razzmatazz, the star that really shone bright was Radhika herself with her electrifying performance.

This was the time of success for her and her guru Bhavana Thakar, who trained Radhika in Bharatnatyam for over 8 years. Incidentally, Radhika will be the second Bharatnatyam proponent in the Ambani family after Nita Ambani, who herself is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer.

Radhika’s performance consisted of all the traditional elements of the Arangetram performance, starting with the Pushpanjali to invoke the deities of the stage, god, guru and immediately followed by Ganesh Vandana and the traditional Allaripuprayers for the success of the performance.