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Seven months of planning, five month-long celebrations across Mumbai, Gujarat and on a cruise in Europe, strict protocols, host of international performers and the biggest of celebrities all under one roof. A lot has happened at the Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding bash, which has been dubbed as the biggest celebration the country has ever witnessed. But when the wedding photographer Himanshu Patel spoke to indianexpress.com to detail his experience, the call dropped. Amusingly, it was a Jio network.
The wedding photographer let out a huge laugh, for the interview call might have been disrupted by a few seconds, but he was successfully coming off delivering the biggest event of his career– the Ambani wedding.
Founder of Epic Stories, Himanshu Patel isn’t new to the art of capturing celebrity weddings–Karishma Tanna and Varun Bangera, Prince Narula and Yuvika Chaudhary, Shweta Tripathi and Chaitanya Sharma–but his latest assignment was tracked closely by those, who were invited and those attending vicariously through their Instagram.
Days after the festivities came to an end, Himanshu revealed what went behind the scenes of filming the wedding– from capturing “tiny moments of love”, experiencing the larger-than-life aura of the three Khans, Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir, dancing together to answering why he shot the couple’s pheras using a wildlife lens!
Edited except:
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant at their wedding. (Photo: Epic Stories)
How did you come on board the wedding?
In June 2023, there was a wedding we shot, whose videos had gone viral– the ‘Mangalayam’ video specifically–and I had never seen something like that. It was after that Radhika’s team reached out to us. Initially I didn’t know it was Radhika Merchant! But then later she started following our account and then when I met them, the magnitude of the assignment hit me. We signed a contract, there was a full discussion and then we started getting involved in the planning immediately after that.
In other weddings, the couple or the planners hire you, you are in touch with them, go to the wedding and it is done. In this wedding, it was completely different. If we shot with them for 20 days from March till now, we spent more than double the days doing recce, planning and brainstorming; the challenges we can face, the expectations, our strategy.
Radhika Merchant at her wedding. (Photo: Epic Stories)
Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani. (Photo: Epic Stories)
What were the challenges?
Jamnagar was very, very challenging. I had never seen something like that, it was massive. We stepped in there a couple of days before the actual event date and we were just so shocked… A lot of planning went into that, we met different vendors, what to do, how to execute it. Because the only brief we got from the family was that ‘You have to be very discreet all the time. Be invisible yet present.’ The wedding is not just for the photography but also an experience for the guest. So we had capture the special moments without intruding the couple’s special day.
If Anant Ambani is meeting Mark Zuckerberg, you cannot be flashing your cameras and disturb them. You have to be silent. Normally what happens in a wedding is that the photographers are hovering around the stage, the couple. You don’t get a proper visibility of what’s happening on the stage, because photographers always take the front row. But here it was completely different. They were restrictions, that we can’t be too close (so that they don’t get disturbed) and being a professional the job was to capture all the tender moments of love and emotions.
How many people were in your team?
The minimum team size was of ten photographers. For Jamnagar and Mumbai, the team size was about 15 people — 10 photographers, two runners, two editors and one producer. But on cruise, we were ten people. The way we’d work is, for example, one photographer would tag along Radhika, one would be with Anant; similarly, few would be with their respective families, siblings and few would be just to shoot the experience, of what’s happening on a wider scale. The team was briefed in a way that we would stick to what one has been assigned.
What was the prep like?
We had to understand the show flow, which would change every single day! The way how the couple would enter, what would follow next, everything would change. So, for us it was difficult to plan out everything, like, where would the photographers be stationed? For them to perform, the photographers have to be in close circle to get those real time tiny moments. There were more than 50 vendors who were involved every time we had to do the recce or planning. So, we would have to ensure that all of us are on the same page, from the choreographers, production team, show management, the artistes and guests. For example, if a ceremony is happening and if a guest comes in your frame, you can’t ask them to move aside. You always have to have a backup plan. So, it was important for us to anticipate these things, how to get those shots without disturbing anyone!
Their layouts were so detailed it was hard to understand how everything is plotted and planned on the map. So we mapped out our camera–where the couple would be coming from, where our photographer would be present but also stay invisible. That was a challenge. If the couple turns, there would be someone else capturing that. At the same time, someone would be capturing the reactions of the family. What stood out for me in all these celebrations were the tiny moments of love, while the world was looking at the opulence of the wedding, how much they spent, the celebrities who attended. Long after people will forget this (the hype), our images will answer just how emotional it was underneath all.
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant during their pre-wedding festivities. (Photo: Epic Stories)
The working hours would have been a lot?
In Jamnagar, we would sleep for two hours every day. The events would end at 4-5 in the morning (once it ended at 7 am) and the next event would start at 10am. During Jamnagar, it was truly hectic but so worth it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I don’t regret the lack of sleep!
What was the cruise celebration like?
After Jamnagar, everything felt easy. Cruise was genuinely a lot of fun. There was no ceremony, people were just celebrating, so it was a chill atmosphere, where we actually enjoyed and bonded with the couple, the family. The few events that happened outside were when we would dock at ports and shoot that.
Still from Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant’s wedding festivities. (Photo: Epic Stories)
Still from Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant’s wedding festivities. (Photo: Epic Stories)
All these celebrations had huge international presence, from Rihanna, Justin Bieber to Kim Kardashian…. Were there any dos and don’ts?
There was nothing like we can’t go close to them or any such protocol. They definitely expect you to get great images with emotions but also expect you to be discreet all the time. We had never shot a wedding like this before, where we didn’t have control in our hands but we had to ensure we capture the moments.
Never in our lives we have used wildlife lenses at wedding! When there were sitting in their mandap, I shot their pheras while being at least 200-300 meters away. It was tough and tiring, because all those heavy lenses–of 5-6 kgs–had to be carried throughout the day. Our back is still hurting, but now when the images are being praised, it is all worth it.
People kept wondering what it would be like to be in that room, with all the grandeur and the glamour. What was it like though?
It was a dream. No where can you have so many powerful people in on room, in front of you. It was overwhelming. The only concern I had with my team was that it shouldn’t be star struck! Our fundamental goal was to shoot the family, the intimate moments during the celebrations. So, this was the only brief that I told my team was to not get overwhelmed.
When Anant and Mark were talking, for a second, I couldn’t believe and had to pinch myself. But then I quickly, but politely, asked Mark if I could click him and he obliged. All the celebrities were having the best times of their lives, they weren’t there as a performer or standees, but friends and family. There was that moment when the three Khans had performed together!
How was that like?
Nobody had able to get them together and dance. When they were performing on stage, it was so overwhelming. I could see that people were just enjoying it… the atmosphere was great and one for the books. The entire celebration was a historic moment for all. I felt like this was a movie, which no one scripted and won’t be screened anywhere! It felt like a scene straight out of a film, that we were witnessing, exclusively.
Was there a moment that surprised you?
There were many special moments, but as a wedding photographer, there wasn’t any ‘surprise’ per say because we knew who is going to come, when, and what all will happen. For the couple, there were a lot of surprises. The Katy Perry show on the cruise, the couple didn’t know! There were many things which were kept as a surprise for Anant and Radhika. We used to get specific brief for such events, that the couple doesn’t know about it, so we had to capture the moment once the reveal happens!
Have you been sleeping well after the wedding?
I know that everybody wanted this to end because it was going on for so long but am already missing those days. On Monday we shot the last event, and we were talking to Radhika and Anant and told them, ‘It has been seven months since we have been doing this, but I don’t know how it will feel tomorrow when we will wake up and there will be no pressure, no tasks to finish!’ Even they said they don’t know what they’ll do now, because they were planning this for years, were continuously busy in planning. When I woke up the next morning, I thought, ‘I don’t have to go anywhere!’ They became like our family. That’s what weddings do.
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