Word: mallya
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...Vijay Mallya, chairman of the UB Group, India's largest liquor conglomerate, is getting a touchup. The businessman and flamboyant socialite-whose toys include racehorses, sports cars and soccer teams-lounges beside the swimming pool of his seaside mansion in Goa while a makeup artist brushes dye into his beard. The hues perfectly match the copper tints already gleaming in Mallya's hair. Rifle-toting security guards keep watch while his wonder-struck guests sip beer and wander about the pleasure dome's grounds...
...After a sumptuous lunch served by uniformed waiters, the Boss heads for the Goa airport, where his private Boeing 727 is prepped for take-off. Is the destination Monaco, Gstaad or any number of other international playgrounds befitting the 47-year-old glamour boy of Indian business? Hardly. Vijay Mallya is hitting the campaign trail...
...Already a member of India's upper house of Parliament, he's also a new and improbable leader of the Janata Party, a socialist outfit famous for its commitment to farmers and the downtrodden. Mallya is campaigning hard to establish himself as a political force in his home state of Karnataka. He's already spent time and money stumping for candidates from an affiliated party in a recent election for the state assembly, and he says he plans to field candidates of his own in future elections. Emulating his heroes-American tycoon-turned-politician Ross Perot and Italian media magnate...
...little more than 24 hours after his Goan pool party, Mallya takes the podium before a crowd in Kolar, a poor, drought-ravaged region of Karnataka. He's exchanged the heavy diamond studs for simple gold earrings and is decked out in the chaste all-white kurta and pajama of a typical Indian politician. "God has given me everything," Mallya tells the audience. "Money, big houses, fame. I want nothing more-except the chance to serve you." The crowd listens politely and begins to drift away-until the techno music starts to pound. A green laser beam projects images...
...Although Mallya may be new to politics, he's not new to the spotlight. Long one of India's most prominent businessmen, he has turned United Breweries, the company he inherited from his father, into India's dominant brewer. By aggressively acquiring smaller brands, UB now controls a 40% share of the domestic beer market, and Mallya has transformed the group's flagship brew, Kingfisher, into a label that's known from England to Australia. But with $1.2 billion in annual sales, the UB Group is more than just beer and Bagpiper, India's best-selling whisky. It also...