The Life And Times Of KP

"In Mumbai, we judge the sex appeal of a man not by his colourful lifestyle but by his ability to hit the target."
— A top BSE broker

Unlike Harshad Mehta, who he is inevitably being compared to, Ketan Parekh—even in his best days—was never high-profile or abrasive. "You won’t find a bmw in his courtyard," says a close associate. Parekh has hardly been photographed by the media—a complete contrast to Mehta at his peak—and he has never been interviewed. Whether this was a deliberate strategy or innate shyness, it all added to KP’s aura of mystery.

The daily routine of Parekh, 38, doting father of two, starts with a temple visit. At exactly 11 am, he reaches his office at 121, Nagindas Master Road, Radha Bhavan, in Mumbai’s Fort area. The next two hours are spent in business dealings coordinated by his secretary Aditi Shah. All post-lunch meetings are customarily held at the Taj Chambers. Parekh usually ends his working day with a 7 pm meeting with Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (hfcl) head Vinay Maloo, when Maloo is in town.

He seldom communicates with people he is not familiar with. Even if you manage to speak to him, you are likely to get vague responses of the "fluctuating conditions" and "let us wait and watch" variety. When he agreed to give his opinion about Budget 2001 in a leading financial daily, it turned out to be insipid, giving no hint at all about what he actually felt.

What is known of his feelings is that Parekh loves hobnobbing with glamour (read Bollywood) and power (read Delhi’s powerful politicians and lobbyists). "Parekh is very starry-eyed. He enjoys the glitz and glamour of tinseltown and also loves his associates to know whom he knows in Delhi," says a top Mumbai broker. "This explains his business links with diamond merchant and film financier Bharat Shah. Besides, he is fairly close to actress Sonali Bendre and some other Bollywood film stars. In fact, it was on his insistence that many of them made a beeline to the recent dual act in Delhi: donations at Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh’s birthday bash that was turned into a fundraiser for the Gujarat quake. They all came: Shahrukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Raveena Tandon

But KP knows how to party without being caught, on camera, that is. In a close and high-profile social circle that includes Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Channel Nine chief James Packer, hfcl’s Maloo and Subroto Roy of the Sahara Group, KP is always the silent smiling man in the background, preferring to let his financial deals do the talking. And his friendships are inextricably linked with the deals. He recklessly pushed the hfcl share price up, has a stake in Packer’s Nine Broadcasting India along with hfcl and is a partner in kvp (Ketan, Vinay, Packer) Ventures, a venture capital fund set up to invest in convergence and biotech projects. Parekh has also pumped money into Bachchan’s AB Corp (formerly Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd) to help his friend revive the bankrupt firm.

They are very thick friends, the six of them," is how one of the hangers-on to this charmed circle describes their relationship. "Amar Singh calls Subroto Roy his brother, Bachchan calls Amar Singh his brother...they go on like this." Singh initially refused to talk about KP but relented later, to say: "I know him very well socially but can’t talk about him as a man nor can I comment on his lifestyle or on how many cars he has, as I am not that close to him. I have never been to his house, though he has invited me and I wanted to go but couldn’t. I’m not ashamed to say I know him. If he’s in trouble, may God help him, but I would like to make it clear that I’m not associated with his business in any way. I have never in my life dealt in shares. I know he is a very religious person, he is soft-spoken and does not tom-tom his wealth and clout."

One of Parekh’s principal political contacts in Delhi may be Rajya Sabha MP and former journalist Rajiv Shukla. Parekh has often been seen at parties thrown by Shukla, where he is escorted by Maloo. "At parties, he is a Scotch-on-the-rocks man. Four drinks and he calls it a day," reveal sources, adding that it’s an open secret that KP also has a direct line to a senior minister in the nda government, but there is no real evidence since they have never been seen together in public. The fact remains that KP has considerable political clout. Early last year, when IB sleuths raided the office of his firm NH Securities (the Sensex took a dive), KP managed to turn it into a "survey", a first in the history of IB raids in the country!

His aggressive dealmaking style is also well-known. A popular TV anchor remembers being seated beside him on a Mumbai-Delhi flight. By the time the flight landed, KP had charted out a gameplan for the anchor and assured him that if he could come up with a good television project worth around Rs 200 crore, KP would take care of the initial public offer.

But in the end, for a man who so many rivals and punters have tried to keep a tab on for the last few years, KP remains an enigma, and a paradox. While stories abound about his buying a six-seater jet and a fleet of expensive cars, others insist all this is untrue. While memories are still fresh of Mumbai’s biggest millennium bash, KP’s Mandwa do on the waterfront, close associates reveal that he maintains a rather simple life. "He is quite conservative and owns just a cottage at Alibaug. But that’s nothing for a guy who plays in hundreds of crores," said a broker. 

A simple Jain stockbroker?