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The most expensive party in the world: Recently, the wedding of Anant, son of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, with Radhika Merchant was in the news. About Rs 5,000 crore were spent on it. It can be called the most expensive wedding till date. But even before this, in the year 1971, Iran's last ruler Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi had given the most expensive party of that century.
The party spent nearly Rs. 5,000 crore
A total of 100 million dollars i.e. today's Rs. 5000 crores were spent on this party. A total of 600 people including the heads of state and their representatives of 65 countries attended this party which lasted for three days. However, if only money had been spent on this party then there would have been no problem. But this party proved to be expensive because it ended the monarchy and changed the country forever.
Why did you throw such an expensive party?
It was in 1970 when Iran was ruled by Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. To retain his title, Pahlavi was called the 'Shah of Shahs'. At that time Iran had good relations with America. Iran was considered very liberal in the 1970s. The Shah was against practices like hijab and he also used to say that even if the abilities of men and women are not equal, women should be equal in the eyes of the law.
There were some other problems during the reign of the Shah. The country had oil reserves. But people lived in poverty. All facilities including schools, hospitals were missing. However, in 1971, when the Persian Empire was about to complete 2500 years, Pahlavi got the idea of organizing a Jalso or party. This Jalso was to be held the next year. But it needed a year to prepare for it.
This is how the party was planned
Therefore, to make this party a topic of discussion around the world, a party was organized. This party was organized in the desert near the tomb of Persia's first emperor Cyrus. For this, an area of thirty kilometers was cleared at a place called Persepolis full of snakes and scorpions and trees were planted there. Along with this, a 600 km long road was also built from the capital to Persepolis.
50 tents were put up at this venue, for which silk was used. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a salon were built in this tent. Water fountains were also installed between the tents. About 10 thousand plants were planted. Also, 50 thousand crickets were brought from Europe for chirping and strict security arrangements were made.
Now if we talk about the internal arrangements, Shah invited the best chefs from the most expensive restaurants of Paris and 200 waiters from Switzerland. Apart from this, with the help of the Iranian army, 10,000 gold plated plates weighing 150 tons were brought by air from Paris.
These guests attended this luxurious party
Now talking about the guests, invitations were sent to the presidents of all the countries. Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip from Britain and the Vice President of America attended this party. So from India's side, the then President VV Giri was also the chief guest in this function. The preparations for the party were so grand that it took 125 women 6 months to embroider the tablecloth on the table placed in front of the chief guest. A fireworks show was also organized on the last day of the party.
Throwing such an expensive party turned out to be costly
Ayatollah Khomeini was Shah's biggest critic. Also, he was out of the country at the time of this party. Ayatollah Khomeini also targeted Shah regarding this party. Shah claimed to be a liberal. This party strengthened his image as an insensitive ruler.
After the three-day royal party, when the guests left, media reports about its cost appeared. This led to public anger against the Shah. By 1979, the situation became so bad that the Shah had to flee the country with his family. A party organized by him in 1971 had a powerful impact and ended the Pahlavi monarchy. After this, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thus this party became the most expensive party in history.