Vijay Mallya has ferocious work ethics

How does one interview an interviewer? Well, maybe calling Michael Peschardt simply an interviewer is a rather criminal understatement, but of late that gentle role of a TV presenter is Michael’s. 

One of BBC’s longest-serving correspondents — he’s been with the network since 1983 — Michael has, for the time being, hung up his wanderlusty boots (he used to be a foreign correspondent) to host ‘Peschardt’s People’, a one-on-one show on BBC World that brings to viewers all kinds of achievers from across the world.

So is this going to be just another “meet-the-achiever” show? “Well, the thing with my show is that I try and interview people in their environment,” he says.

Ask him about the Indian guests he has had on his show the previous season, he gives you nuggets of information you wouldn’t know.  “Vijay Mallya has ferocious work ethics. I’ve never seen a man who works as much as he does,” he says.

About Narayana Murthy, chief mentor of Infosys, Michael says, “He is easily the cleverest man I have had the privilege to meet.” Michael went shopping with Murthy and saw him pick up 15 books of just mathematical equations.

“He reads them for pleasure,” Michael adds. He is also clearly charmed by Preity Zinta.
“She’s just so full of energy. I think Bollywood actors have a sense of humour about their work, while those in Hollywood take themselves too seriously,” he says.

That, clearly, is Michael’s knack — to put someone at ease and give the best of them to the viewers. “My show is not about making people say something they don’t want to. It’s about their public lives; their private lives are not my business unless it impacts their public lives,” asserts Michael.

His latest season will have five Indian celebrities on it, among them Shabana Azmi and Amitabh Bachchan.

After much prodding, he reveals he is very keen to meet the Big B. This is his fourth trip to India and Michael is obviously impressed. “I haven’t seen a nation that has such a great thirst for knowledge and information,” he says.

 As for his opinion on Indians, the witty journalist says, “This country is interesting, flamboyant and full of opinionated people,” assuring us it’s a compliment!

m_sandhya@dnaindia.net