This is all about being 'connected'. If you are not hot on networking, then you're not in. It sure counts to be rich, famous or talented, but if you don't connect with people or befriend those that count in the eyes of the world, then you're not on this list. On the other hand, you may not have any of the pre-requisites of a social standing, but if you are a smooth-talker and are invited to every 'do' in town, then you're in.You could 'connect' anytime, anywhere, for any reason or no reason at all. Celebrations go beyond the barriers of reason, time, age, occupation, fame, wealth or power.

Femina did a round of all the hip-hop and happenings in town and came up with this list of the 25 best connected Indians.

PARMESHWAR GODREJ
There is nobody quite like her. The pizzazz, the charm, the enthusiasm, the 100-watt energy. Ms Godrej makes people her business. This former air-hostess, now the wife of industrialist Adi Godrej, is probably one of the few Indians to have access to international jet-setters. The happening, the rich, the newsworthy — she has an unerring knack of locating them, wining them, dining them, having them over as house guests. Goldie Hawn, Richard Gere, Ivana Trump, Herve Leger are all her friends. Incidentally, her son Pirojsha currently works for Hillary Clinton.

TINA AND ANIL AMBANI
Although not very hot on networking, they attract a lot of attention. Their recent social triumph was getting Clinton to be on their board of directors for a fee of five million dollars a year! And, yes, the Ambanis, like Vijay Mallya, the Godrejs and others, do go to the International Business Forum at Davos every year. Their association with Subhash Ghai, the Bachchans and more recently with Amar Singh, Samajwadi Party MP, has keep them in the limelight.

MAUREEN AND NUSLI WADIA
A terrific partnership. She knows everyone who matters in showbiz and her beauty contests have thrown up some of the most enduring names in the fashion world. Dino Morea, John Abraham, Aditi Govitrikar are all winners first noticed by her. Very close to Ratan Tata, Nusli Wadia, again, rarely photographed, is immensely powerful. He had a long-standing feud with Rajan Pillai.

RAMOLA BACHCHAN
It can’t just be the name. Sure, she’s retained it post-divorce. Former wife of Ajitabh Bachchan, younger brother of Amitabh — is undoubtedly the diva of the London social circle. Charity events, sit-down dinners, all the names are from the most prominent social registers. Needless to say, Sonia Gandhi is a friend.

SHEKHAR KAPUR
The entertainment world’s best connected celebrity, without a doubt. The ‘Masoom’ man has gone a long, long way ahead. Now he rubs shoulders with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Steven Spielberg, no less. His determination and energy are unflagging, though not much has been heard of him after ‘Elizabeth’. A few years ago he also tied up with Parmeshwar Godrej to form an entertainment company, but except for one Godrej commercial for Ganga soap with Govinda, nothing else materialised out of that association.

SHOBHA DE
Columnist, novelist and fabulous in her fifties, Shobha De is known to make her contacts right across the editorial room, irrespective of designation. She is easily India's the best-connected media person today. ‘Newsweek’ and ‘Time’ rarely look beyond her for quotes or comments on anything happening in the subcontinent. She and her husband Dilip, were photographed beside the rarely photographed ‘India Today’ publisher Aroon Purie and his wife, Rekha for the magazine’s 25th year celebrations. The UN’s Arundhati Ghosh is a friend and so is Anjali Mendes, fashionista and muse supreme in Paris.

ATUL KASBEKAR
One of Mumbai’s best known photographers, Kasbekar makes it a point to know everyone who matters. The more prominent the surname, the more likely Kasbekar will want to be seen with them. Talented, intelligent, great company — Kasbekar courts the company of industrialist Gautam Singhania and the owners of advertising agencies. The names he likes best to drop are Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar.

MANISH MALHOTRA
Easily the best connected fashion designer in Mumbai, Manish has schmoozed his way into Bollywood’s bright pack — led by Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra. It’s a seamless blending where directors’ thoughts are tailored into ethereal garments which float around glamorous women like Karishma Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and the like. He makes his plus points work for him — a lack of arrogance and excellent public relations. With his work at the Sheetal Design Studio, Manish has managed to make a breakthrough into the social set as well.

SHABANA AZMI
Her photographs with Nelson Mandela a few years ago, announced Shabana’s arrival in the international arena of biggies. India’s most prominent art film actress, activist and now Rajya Sabha member, is not lagging when it comes to networking. Shirley Maclaine, Ismail Merchant, Roland Joffe — Ms Azmi’s charm works with everyone. She’s presented papers on various subjects in universities abroad and is one of the few people in public life who is as articulate as she is visible. The daughter of poet Kaifi Azmi and wife of writer Javed Akhtar, Shabana’s connections in the literary world are no less impressive.

AMAR SINGH
Ask not whom he knows, but whom he does not — that’s what Delhi says about Amar Singh, General Secretary, Samajwadi party, member of Parliament and businessman.

“Well, I had not planned to be well connected; it was not my design, aim or purpose,” says Singh, almost self-derisively, “I am not a pedigreed person, I have no Doon, Mayo, Oxford or Cambridge behind me.” This ‘self-made’ man however, counts the Ambanis, the Bachchans and the Sahara Parivar Roys among his closest friends. And every time he is in Mumbai, “I stay either with the Bachchans or the Ambanis”. When his twin daughters were born this March, both Jaya Bachchan and Tina Ambani were not only present, but the latter even named them. Then there are the Australians, the Kerry Packer family. “It was a chance meeting that developed into a close friendship,” he says. Enough reason for him to host a party for Kerry Packer’s son James and Jodie Foster in New Delhi, because he was unable to attend their wedding in Australia.

THE HINDUJA BROTHERS
Okay, we’ll forget about their recent rather public embarrassments. Several collective billions help with such fade outs. Being detained in India by the CBI, having assorted British MPs resign because of undeserved favours done for them — the Hindujas still rule the roost in London. Prince Charles has been a guest, as has Margaret Thatcher, and they know how to retain contacts both professionally and personally.

BINA RAMANI
Controversy could easily be her middle name. There is something about designer and socialite Bina Ramani that keeps her in the public eye.When this mother of two moved to India with her daughters from the United States, she gave Delhi a taste of unexpected glamour and chic. In fact, by ‘founding’ the tony Hauz Khas village, studded with designer shops in the lanes and by lanes of an obscure Delhi village, Bina gave enterprise a new name. She was the woman to know and be seen with. The one who knew the top names in the glamour world abroad, and at home. The one who counted herself among those close to the controversial Chandraswami. A couple of years ago she started the Tamarind Court at Qutab Colonnade.

PRIYA PAUL
35-year-old Priya Paul, President, The Park Hotels, India, and Director, Apeejay Surendra Group, India, has chosen to blaze her own trail. She was in her twenties when insurgents in Assam shot dead her father, Surendra Paul, in 1990. Overcoming her personal tragedy, Priya went about giving a new life and look to the Park chain of hotels and succeeded in putting her hotels in the enviable boutique hotel category. Sure, she has a kind benefactor in her uncle Lord Swaraj Paul, but it was no mean achievement of hers to get the designer Czar, Sir Terence Conran to do up her Bangalore hotel and then having none other than Chef Antonio Carluccio to inaugurate the Italian restaurant at The Park, Bangalore. Priya is said to have the ‘right connections’ both at home and abroad. Her guest list includes a 'who’s who' of the capital with the Ansals and the Mittals figuring in it. Priya works hard and loves to party hard.

SHOBHANA BHARTIA
K K Birla’s daughter is one of the few women to be at the helm of a media organisation in India. The vice-chairperson and editorial director of ‘Hindustan Times’ and the first woman on the board of directors of The Press Trust of India, Shobhana is a name to reckon with. Known to have had close connections with Congress bigwigs, like Madhavrao Scindia, she’s also a good friend of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. Married to industrialist Shyam Bhartia, she is deeply religious, keeps a beautiful house in New Delhi’s Friend’s Colony and is a prominent face in Delhi’s social as well as fashion circles. She loves wearing Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahiliani, who are also among her circle of friends.

M A M RAMASWAMY
Known as the king of horse racing, Dr M A M Ramaswamy is a living legend in south India. He is in the ‘Guinness Book Of World Records’ for having won over 300 Classics (horse races), the highest in the history of turf racing. Over the years, his connections with the world of horse racing have brought him in contact with some of the best names in the turf world, including Vijay Mallya, Deepak Khaitan, jockey Pesi Shroff and several members of the British royal family. Dr Ramaswamy is the maternal uncle of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and is close to politician GK Moopanar and M Karunanidhi. His association with AIADMK leader Jayalalitha is well known. It was on land adjoining his home, the palatial Chettinad Palace in Madras, that Jayalalitha celebrated the mega wedding of her now disowned foster son, V N Sudhakaran, some years ago.

VIJAY MALLYA
Flamboyant and dynamic industrialist Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of the Rs 4000 crore UB Group of companies, needs no introduction. A man of varied interests and style, his list of connections include designers Rohit Bal and Manoviraj Khosla, Formula I racer, Narain Karthikeyan, close friends, Adi & Parmeshwar Godrej, the Ambanis, the Birlas, Sunil Alag of Britannia and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, not forgetting his relative, S M Krishna. Recently, he was seen lunching with Richard Gere at his Kunigal stud farm. A keen art collector, he owns works of Indian artists like Souza and Husain by the dozen. He still has the yacht that he bought from Richard Burton.

AROON PURIE
The ‘desi’ answer to Rupert Murdoch has been an icon to an entire generation who cut their teeth on ‘India Today’, the largest magazine publishing group in the country. The 25th anniversary celebrations of the group held at the capital’s Taj Mansingh in December 2000, were attended by Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi, who rubbed shoulders with the Ambanis and the Birlas — it was a display of clout unseen in recent times, and many of the guests present are personal associates. The Puries, though averse to giving interviews, are a regular page three couple, and were part of the 25 invited to an exclusive lunch at Dhirubhai Ambani’s south Mumbai home last March, held in honour of Bill Clinton’s visit to the quake affected areas.

RITU BERI
Ritu Beri is the face of Indian fashion on international ramps and is easily the best connected designer in the capital. This NIFTian has seen over a decade of fashion seasons and is the first and only Indian designer whose work has been featured in ‘Acustyl’, the trend forecasting service of ‘Promostyl', international design consultants to the entire global fashion fraternity. Beri’s excellent public relations network helped her to get selected to represent Indian fashion in far flung places like Beijing, Washington, Mauritius, Nairobi and Cairo, during the celebrations to commemorate 50 years of India’s independence. She’s the only ‘desi’ designer to regularly unveil her collections at Paris.
Beri’s friends include liquor baron Vijay Mallya, politician Amar Singh, actor-MP Vinod Khanna, Madhuri Nene, M F Husain, Raymond’s head honcho Gautam Singhania, FTV President Michel Adam, and Daniel L Swarovski from the famous Austrian crystal family. Her business partner and marketing guru is Mounir Mouffarige, the man behind Mont Blanc and Dunhill.

VIR SANGHVI
The editor of ‘Hindustan Times’ and high-profile television host has never considered himself well connected. “I don’t even network!” he says. But Mumbai born, Oxford educated Sanghvi knows enough people in both politics and showbiz by virtue of his profession. The others, like Amitabh Bachchan, are “close personal connections”. From the Bollywood circle he knows Dilip Kumar and Anil Kapoor well and is close to Mani Shankar Iyer and Kamalnath in the power circuit. He, along with ‘Anand Bazar Patrika’ boss, Aveek Sarkar, was the first to interview Rajiv Gandhi during the Bofors scandal. He’s done well as a television anchor. He has friends in the media like Aroon Purie and Karan Thapar.

PRASAD BIDAPPA
Bangalore-based Bidappa is a veteran fashionista. He was one long before the term became relevant or fashionable. He’s known to be able to spot a pretty face with potential, and several beauty queens and ramp models from Bangalore, like Vidisha Pavate, are Bidappa discoveries. His most prominent contact is Vijay Mallya and he has a say in most of the UB Group’s events. In Mumbai too, he cultivates known names in the fashion industry and the media. Shobha De is a favourite with him.

PRANNOY ROY
Prannoy Roy wielded considerable influence in the government of former Prime Minister, I K Gujral. Roy is also first cousin to novelist Arundhati Roy. A grandfather at 50 plus, he keeps his private life strictly out of bounds. Again, networking is not a priority, but Roy operates with a quiet force and no one in the government is inaccessible to him.

KAAJAL ANAND
She’s not a celebrity in her own right. But you can bet she knows every single one who matters. Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan are personal friends who lean on this qualified lawyer for advice of all kinds. Kaajal is also Yash and Avanti Birla’s business partner and most trusted friend. Marwari, vegetarian Yash once promised her a crore of rupees if she gave up eating meat! She is also undoubtedly Rhea Pillai Dutt’s foul weather friend. She is the social know-all to whom director Karan Johar still refers when he’s in doubt about society’s pecking order. Kaajal Anand has her well-wishers and detractors, but what she’s known for is her unswerving loyalty and discretion where her famous friends are concerned.

NATASHA NANDA
Slowly coming into her own right, just now she is still known by many famous tags — Raj Kapoor’s granddaughter, Shweta Bachchan’s husband’s sister — but Natasha Nanda, daughter of Ritu and Rajan Nanda of Escorts, has her own power circle both in Mumbai and in the capital. Connections include Adi Godrej’s daughter Tanya and her husband Arvind Dubash, and the Aggarwals of Diner’s Club.

PRITISH NANDY
Definitely well connected. One of the first journalists to make use of his designation as editor, regardless of the fate of the publication. Is close to former prime minister V P Singh, Maneka Gandhi and Anupam Kher. His connections cut across the entire spectrum — including businessmen, artists and film stars (he was one of the first news magazine editors to have film stars like Rekha on the cover).

DILEEP PADGAONKAR
Reported to be close to Sharad Pawar and Arjun Singh, Padgaonkar is a veteran in the print line, known to take his job as executive managing editor of ‘The Times Of India’ very seriously.

Source: Femina

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