Rihanna's joy at 'first real show' in eight years for Ambani pre-wedding

Pop star wore a fluorescent green bodycon and glittery custom-made gown by Manish Malhotra

Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their daughter Arabella. Reuters

Bill Gates and Paula Hurd. Reuters

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, his wife Gauri and their son Abram. Reuters

Actor Ranbir Kapoor and his wife and actor Alia Bhatt. Reuters

Rihanna, third from left, with members of the Ambani family during the first night of pre-wedding celebrations. Reliance Industries / Reuters

The singer performed some of her biggest hits in a rare performance. Reliance Industries / Reuters

Bill Gates and girlfriend Paula Hurd with Anant Ambani and Mukesh Ambani during the pre-wedding celebrations. Reliance / Reuters

Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani address guests during day one of their three-day pre-wedding celebrations in Jamnagar. All photos: AFP / Reliance unless stated otherwise

Nita Ambani, chairwoman and founder of the Reliance Foundation

Bollywood stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan

India's former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with wife Sakshi

Bollywood actors Ajay Devgn, centre, and Akshay Kumar, right

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg with wife Priscilla Chan

West Indies's former cricket captain Dwayne Bravo, right, and wife Regina Ramjit

From left, Jared Kushner, daughter Arabella and Ivanka Trump posing with billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani

Indian businesswoman Natasha Poonawalla

From left, Ivanka Trump, daughter of former US president Donald Trump, and Nita

Akash Ambani, left, with wife Shloka Mehta and Mukesh Ambani, right, with wife Nita

India's spiritual guru and founder of Isha Foundation, Jagadish 'Jaggi' Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru

Indian politician Praful Patel with wife Varsha

Rihanna gave a rare performance of some of her biggest hits at the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant on Friday.

Matching the dress code of “elegant cocktail", she wore a fluorescent green bodycon and glittery custom-made gown by The Attico.

The singer, who went on a musical hiatus in 2016 to focus on other projects as well as raising her two children with rapper A$AP Rocky, recaptured the magic of old in Jamnagar.

“I’m here tonight in honour of Anant and Radhika, thank you for having me here. God bless your union, I wish you all the best, congratulations,” she said as she took the stage.

She added: “How many of you believe in love?” before performing her 2011 hit track We Found Love.

Other hits she performed include Diamonds, Work and Wild Thoughts showcasing the success of her career that has produced eight albums and helped her win nine Grammys.

After leaving the stage, she told reporters: “I'll be back, I love India. The show was the best. I haven’t done a real show in eight years."

Anant is the youngest son of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. He is hosting a lavish three-day celebration in the Gujarati city, on the west coast of India, which began on Friday.

The 1,200-strong guest list is a who's-who of Bollywood, business leaders, Indian cricketers, politicians and business tycoons.

UAE businessman and Emaar Properties founder Mohamed Alabaar with his wife; Bollywood stars Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone; Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan; Shah Rukh Khan and his family; and Ivanka Trump were some of the guests seen arriving at the airport in Jamnagar city.

All were flown on chartered flights into Jamnagar. However, the main wedding event will be held in July in Mumbai.

According to a nine-page event guide and wardrobe planner sent to guests and seen by The National, the celebrations will include several themed parties, which began with a cocktail party called An Evening in Everland on Friday.

The Ambanis are not known to cut corners for their weddings. Anant's sister Isha Ambani's star-studded 7 billion rupee nuptials ($86 million) in 2018 is still the most expensive Indian wedding of all time and included a performance by Beyonce.