Sunanda Pushkar is an angry woman. The businesswoman, who made headlines for her proximity to Shashi Tharoor and her sweat equity of Rs70 crore in the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, tells the story of her true self in an interview to Tehelka.
“It’s been like a medieval witch hunt. I think it’s not even just to do with my being a woman, it’s to do with my being an attractive woman. That’s what makes it even more disgusting. That, to so many people in this society, if you are attractive you are immediately deemed to be a loose woman.
“What have they (media) not said about me! I am supposed to be married to some automobile businessman in Delhi; my second husband is supposed to have committed suicide; I am supposed to have slept with god knows how many men, and I am supposed to be a tart.
“I have been proud I had made it alone, on my own terms, in a man’s world, and in one minute they have reduced me to a slut. Just because I am an attractive working woman in a man’s world.
“I saw a Hindi film called Corporate — it disgusted me. A woman must sleep around with someone to get business. She must utilise her body and only then her brain will function.”
In an interview to Tehelka magazine, Sunanda Pushkar spoke to Shoma Chaudhury about her life, her sweat equity in the Kochi IPL team, and her friendship with Shashi Tharoor. Excerpts:
Would you like to put the facts on record first?
I don’t really want to. My son and parents have already suffered enough on this. How many times I got married, who I dated — what does any of that have to do with the IPL?
That’s true, but unfortunately the absence of facts has allowed everyone to maul your image.
My first marriage was a very dark period in my life. Everyone’s saying Sanjay Raina divorced me, but I divorced him. The truth is Sujit rescued me. He gave me the strength, as a friend, to quit a very painful marriage. I got my divorce in 1988 and went off to Dubai in 1989. I married Sujit in 1991; my son Shivy was born in November 1992.
What about Sujit’s death?
My husband died in an accident in Karol Bagh (Delhi) in March 1997. Sujit was a financial consultant and had run into some financial trouble. But that was less important to me than the fact that after his death, Shivy suddenly stopped talking. He was barely four. I began to look for the best affordable healthcare and that’s how I hit upon Canada. I moved there to help my son.
Part of the muck being thrown at you for having sweat equity in the Kochi team is that you don’t have professional standing that merits it.
I cannot tell you how insulted I feel. The media has said for Rs70 crore, the Kochi team could have hired any foreign marketing firm, why would they pick me? No one seems to have understood the basics about sweat equity: there is no Rs70 crore on the table; not one paisa has changed hands, and there will be no profits for years to pay anybody.
Could you then run us through your career graph a bit?
When I came to Dubai I worked in tourism. After I married Sujit, I got into events. Sujit and I did only one event together which went badly — a Mammooty show. But apart from that I don’t think I did any event that made a loss. I started my own company called Expressions (that did) model shows for product launches. After a while I got a great offer from an ad agency called Bozell Prime. After Sujit died, I gave up Bozell for Shivy. So that last year in Dubai before I went to Canada, I worked with Ravissant.
In Canada, I had to start from scratch. Some friends suggested I get into the IT sector… we tied up with companies like Compaq and head-hunted in India for them. After a while, a friend in San Francisco alerted me that a company called Valley Resources wanted a partner. I had no money to invest but they still wanted me. [Laughs] That was my first sweat equity! We made good money.
Just as our IT business was booming, 9/11 happened. We were cleaned out financially. That’s when I got into emotional intelligence. We started something called Human Potential Re-engineering. In 2004, Best Homes offered to send me to Dubai to set up their operations there in real estate… (Then) I was offered a job by Mohamad-bin-Ghalib of Tecom to work on an international Media Production Free Zone.
How would you speak of yourself?
I think I’m pretty well-to-do. I drive a Range Rover. My son has a driver and a Ford. I have a cook and a domestic help. I own two 3-bedroom apartments in Jumeirah Palm, a beachside apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence, two apartments in executive towers.
What has really upset you the most?
It’s been like a medieval witch hunt! I think it’s not even to do with my being a woman, it’s to do with my being an attractive woman. To so many people in this society, if you are attractive, you are immediately deemed to be a loose woman.
There’s another thing I want to clarify. They are saying I have given up my shares to save Shashi Tharoor. I DID NOT give it up for Shashi Tharoor. I gave it up (because) I have no enthusiasm to work on this anymore. I might still do stuff for them be & not;cause I love Kerala.
I have to say the conjecturing about you has been shameful.
(Starting to cry) I have always thought of myself as a kind, proud, honest and ethical person. I can’t recognise what they have turned me into.
Let’s talk about Shashi Tharoor and the IPL.
I met him about two years ago through a friend called Sunny Varkey, and we got along immediately. We are certainly close now, but that closeness only developed less than five months ago. I am very proud to know him because, most of all, he is a good and honest man.
As far as the IPL goes, I have known Karim and Ali Murani since 1998 since we were all in the events business. When they took on KKR, I was generally throwing ideas at them. Ali asked me to come down to Bombay to discuss working for them — the Muranis, not KKR itself. But Shivy was still in school so we just let it slide.
As far as the sweat equity goes, I did agree to offer my skills as a marketing consultant. But there’s been no exchange of money between us. It’s more like a promissory note with no guarantee that the shares will amount to anything.
Why are they accusing me of being a proxy for Shashi? Can’t I make my own money? He has not been corrupt for so many years, why would he be corrupt now? My faith in India is so shaken. I am shocked at the way events unfurled. It had no basis in truth. Why has the media taken this beyond the realm of reality?
Courtesy: Tehelka
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