Watch Brut host Nihal Ranjit in conversation with Dr. Tharoor at his Delhi home. Hear him talk about getting trolled on Twitter, his iconic hair flip and much more.
#BrutSauce
#BrutSauce
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello sir. How are you? I'm great. Nice to meet you. Come on in. Thank you so much.
00:10How many people can say they've stepped foot into the very eloquent, very charming Dr. Shashi
00:15Tharoor's house? Oh well, this is actually the office part of my house. This is where I write
00:20and where I receive visitors and where I get drowned in the clutter that I have. I don't mean
00:24to jump to conclusions, but do you like to read? Yeah, I do. Okay. I also like to get more books
00:31and I seem to have time to read, which is why you've got these piles all over the place. How
00:36many houses do you have? This is this and I have an apartment in Trivandrum, my constituency. In
00:41Kerala, okay. Thiruvananthapuram. Nice. Can we please have a closer look into your house? Come.
00:47My mother. Hi auntie. This is Young Nihal, who is the host of this particular TV thing. Nice to
00:54meet you. You'll see it soon enough. Yes, you've raised an absolute scholar, ma'am. So this is the
01:01main living room where everyone sits and as you can see, we've got some fairly eclectic art on
01:05the walls. Beautiful paintings. And that one, Hussain Sahib painted for me, so he's actually
01:11autographed it on the back for me, which is nice. Really nice. Is this where Dr. Shashi Tharoor
01:16chills, hanging out? More on this side than that. But yeah, it's simply, you know, as the number of
01:22visitors or guests expands, we expand. I see a Scrabble board over there. That's, my mother is
01:27very fond of Scrabble. Do you guys play? Yeah, we do. But we need ideally a third or even a fourth
01:32person to make it more fun. Who comes out on top though? I'm afraid I do usually. There it is. She
01:37educated me well. So here we've got all my book covers. I think pretty much all my book covers.
01:45They were even tossed in a few of the foreign editions, but not all of them. So amazing. It's
01:49a selection of covers of my books. And sir, a lot of photos happening over here? Yeah, well,
01:55well, yeah, these are actually the family pictures. The ones in the other room are mainly
02:00world leaders and so on, rub shoulders with, but these are all family pictures. This is my son.
02:04How are your kids doing? Maybe they're fine. They both made, they both made me grandfather. So
02:08grandfather, twice over with one son and once over with the other. And sir, I, what happened to the
02:14mustache? That was, this was just a close up of that. This, this was just a very brief moment. I
02:21had actually lost my father. And so in our system, we grow the beard, we don't shave for 40 days.
02:26And when the beard was being taken off, the family said, just for a gig, let's watch it.
02:30Let's see what you'd look like if you had a mustache. So when they took everything off,
02:34they didn't take off the mustache just for that picture. And thereafter,
02:39sir. So you have quite the ostentatious house, sir. Oh, I wouldn't say that. It's, it's actually
02:49a fairly modest Sarkari bungalow. Hardly, sir. Hardly. We've done it up as nicely as we could.
02:54And I give a lot of this room with actually the way Sunanda made it and left it, my late wife.
03:00We have a baby photo over here. Who's that? That is actually the first baby in the family,
03:05but there are two more pictures coming. I see. Which my, which, because I've got three babies
03:10and that guy is three and a half already. Okay. But the other two who were born,
03:15one, one is just five months old and the other is just one month old. How sweet. And that's my dad,
03:21who was my inspiration. So sir, let's talk about food. Okay. Are you, are you a snacker?
03:29Not terribly snacky. I have a big breakfast of idlis every single day. Idlis is it? That's
03:35I'm an idli fanatic. I mean, that's my, that's my genuine addiction. This is your everyday
03:41breakfast. Everyday breakfast. How many idlis do you think you have? I'd rather not reveal it for
03:46fear of at least half a dozen. Half a dozen? At least. That's impressive. Sometimes I cross over
03:53that limit. Do you like Delhi food or Kerala food more? It depends. So for breakfast, I definitely
03:59prefer South Indian food, idli. If I say, if I call idli Kerala food, I think the Udupi guys
04:06will object. So South Indian food, it's fine. But when it comes to, to lunch, for example,
04:12we tend to have an eclectic mix of things. There'll be some South Indian dishes sometimes.
04:17Yes. So I'm familiar with that word, but maybe you want to tell them what eclectic means.
04:22Eclectic means sort of from different places and different sources and origins.
04:27Continue. So an eclectic mix of some North Indian dishes, some South Indian dishes, some just
04:33whatever you call home cooking, because there are so many ways in which an Indian home can make a
04:39sabzi. So let's talk fashion. You're an excellent dresser. Guys, can we get a close-up on this
04:45outfit? Absolutely dapper, if you will. That's too kind, but I honestly, I'm just dressed for the day
04:51and this is what I wore to Parliament this morning. Casual loungewear is this? This is casual
04:55Parliament wear. Okay. So this is your cue to maybe say something about my attire? Yeah, I mean,
05:01you're obviously looking very relaxed as far as I can tell, but no doubt this is what passes for
05:07elegant in the 20s. Definitely, yes. Thank you. So on the note of fashion, is that something you
05:18plan out, your outfits perhaps? Do you give importance? I'm actually, you know, far less,
05:23I mean, I know the basics. I like wearing pants rather than pyjamas. I like wearing a kurta and a
05:31jacket and I like them more or less to go together. But by and large, I'm not too fastidious. Okay,
05:37yes, fastidious, I also know that word. Good for you, Nish. Obviously the Kerala genes.
05:44You're very humble with this answer. I'd like to remind you of this photo.
05:49This is the photo where Shashi Tharoor outshined the groom. Not fair at all. Number one,
05:54every guest had a turban tied on their head. So I didn't come with the turban. The garland though.
05:59The garland was given to me by the host family. It so happened that this picture, needless to say,
06:05was absolute, you know, fodder for the trolls. And that's why it happened, yeah. You have a famous
06:11hair flip that you do. That's true, I haven't done it. But then, you know, you're not of the
06:15right gender, so. But still, why don't you, for the camera, hit us with it. Okay, okay, okay. Oh,
06:20wow, brilliant. Put that in slow motion, guys. Brilliant. But you have an indoor gym? Can we
06:26have a look? Yeah, so it's very rudimentary, but I can show you. It used to be the garage of the
06:31house. I see. And I love how there's a photo of yourself just right in front of you while you're
06:39doing your job. I have to blame my dear late wife for this. All the stuff that went on the wall,
06:44she did. I see. And it's, it's, there's, there's some things we took off. There were a couple more
06:50paintings. Okay. My sisters came and they said, let's have some other art and they put, but I
06:54never look in that direction, so I'm not sure that counts. Sir, I feel like there's this unspoken rule
07:00that politicians have to be sort of serious. What are your thoughts on that? So, yeah, I mean, every
07:05time I try and crack a joke in public, it usually rebounds on me with a thousand trolls.
07:11It's safer, it's safer to be serious. But you've done stand-up recently. How was that? That, that
07:16was a risk, but you know, I did it where the safe time and the votes had already been cast
07:21and before they've been counted. So it was during that lull between the voting and the results.
07:28I saw you use a lot of Gen Z lingo in that, which is impressive, sir. Which brings us to our next
07:35segment called OK Boomer, where I quiz our guests on some of the Gen Z lingo. And I think you might
07:42feel confident, but I'm bringing the heat. I don't think I'll be confident at all because I'm not
07:47surrounded by Gen Z people. Right. So we'll try. I'm going to quiz you on a few words. Try to guess
07:52what it means, what you think it means. The phrase is, let's get this bread. I guess let's get the
07:58substance of something, right? Almost. It means let's make money. Oh, that's a very old-fashioned
08:06meaning of bread. Yes. I thought you had some new 21st century. Yeah, but the way we say, so it's
08:11like if you're making, making your bread means making money. Yes. Like 70 years ago, 80 years ago.
08:16It's trending again. Oh gosh, I should have gone for the safety. Okay. Stop the cap. Stop the cap?
08:23Cap, yes. Stop the cap? Stop the cap, what do you think? No clue. No guesses? Well, I mean, we want to,
08:31it's like saying stop the crap, I suppose. No, no. So stop the cap means stop lying.
08:37Ah, so why is it a cap? It was from a song. Okay. And then it just built on. So it's like,
08:42stop the cap when you're lying. Okay. Yeah. That's something one can use with politicians a lot.
08:48What about drip?
08:51Drip, normally in the vocabulary that I know is a bore, is somebody who's not a terribly
08:57interesting guy, sort of saying things, whining, not terribly fun to be around. Wow. Sir, like you've
09:03got all three wrong. Oh, wow. Yeah. I wish I had a gift hamper just so I could not give it to you.
09:10Drip is fashion. I like his drip. He's really well-dressed. Oh boy. Okay. Yeah, exactly the
09:15opposite. Yeah. So in the era in which I grew up, you say somebody's a drip, it is not a compliment.
09:20Not a compliment. Okay. Well here, if you say, I like your drip, it's like, I like your style.
09:24I like your demeanor. I like what you're wearing. That's what it means. Okay. Yeah. So the next one
09:29is salty. Salty. Yes. I feel like you'll get this. Salty must mean somebody who's sharp,
09:38sharp tongue, so. And we are four for four, ladies and gentlemen. It's a disaster over here.
09:46Salty means someone's being bitter. You're being salty. We can say 75% of Twitter is salty.
09:53Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Bitter. They're really salt or petty. You could say petty. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
09:59So Shashi Tharoor has gotten zero right. We're just going to end the. My Gen Z education is.
10:05There it is. So sir, you go viral on Twitter from time to time. But not by using Gen Z.
10:12How do your kids react to that? Well, look, it depends on what I've gone viral for. I mean,
10:17I think sometimes they'll squirm in embarrassment. And sometimes they'll bury their heads in their
10:23hands. And sometimes they'll actually applaud. So it depends on what it is for. I mean, touch wood,
10:29it happens a lot. So none of these emotions last very long because, you know, today they might be
10:34squirming in embarrassment and tomorrow they might have something to be happy about. So for our next
10:39segment, I want to show you some of your older photos. Please give the viewers some further
10:44context into what was happening. So that's me in Geneva with my twins. I would have been barely
10:5630, maybe even 29. Also well-dressed even back then. Oh yeah. This is obviously, I'd either come
11:02back from work or it's the middle of a work day and I'd come for lunch or whatever. And my twins,
11:06yeah, probably was lunchtime because there's a bit of light outside. It got dark fairly early.
11:11And my twins were my utter joy and delight. In many ways they still are, but there they are in
11:17my arms. Okay. I found this oldie. Ah, that's Antony and Cleopatra at St. Stephen's College,
11:231974. Wow. And that's Meera Nayyar as Cleopatra. Okay. She really was a very, very promising
11:31actress, but she chose to go behind the camera instead of the director. I see. I don't know what
11:36a big talent was lost to the world of acting. Were you into plays? Yeah, I did a lot of theatre in
11:42school in Bombay, Campion School, Bombay, where I managed to win the best actor award of what was
11:47called the Interclass Dramatics. Wow. And then after all this, I went off to the UN in Geneva
11:54and I actually did a play in my very first few months of the UN for the Geneva Amateur
11:59Dramatic Society. Okay. But discovered that my color was an insuperable handicap to getting good
12:05parts. I see. So that's what I was like. So having done one play, in fact, I can tell you it was
12:10Barefoot in the Park. And I thought I was ideal for the romantic lead. I was in my twenties and
12:15I don't doubt it. And I got cast in The Dirty Old Man with a bit of makeup because The Dirty Old
12:21Man could be from exotic nationality. Yes. But the hero had to be white. Tragic, right? And then I
12:26realized that's the end of my theatrical career. Theatrical, okay. And now this one. This is a
12:31beautiful photo. I know you had beef with Triple H. The photo of me smashing a coconut at a temple,
12:37which has been transmogrified into memes like that. I see. Okay. But do you see your memes go
12:44viral around on your own? Sometimes, yeah. This one, of course, it was impossible to not
12:48notice because everyone... That's the other thing, you know, with WhatsApp. If something happens about
12:54you involving you, you know, memes of things you've never really said, but they claim you did,
12:59or jokes attributed to you or about you, there'll be at least a dozen friends who will send it to
13:04you on WhatsApp. Yeah. So you simply can't escape these blessing things. You know, they're there.
13:08And one thing I just can't get my eyes off. So you have a pendant on you. What exactly is that?
13:14Not a pendant. It's an air purifier. Ah, yes, of course. It's supposed to be a negative ionizer.
13:19And the claim was, in fact, it was a gift from a well-meaning friend who thought it'll protect me
13:25from viruses, including the COVID virus. I still caught COVID, but maybe it's protecting me from
13:30lesser viruses. What do I know? But all I do know is that in theory, negative ions in the air around
13:36you are good and give you pure air to breathe. Okay. I will be taking my leave, sir. I've had
13:40so much fun talking to you. It's been a pleasure receiving you here. Yes. Thank you, sir. Good to
13:45see you. Thanks. Sayu, are you sort of a Maryland Malayali? Did you grow up outside Kerala your
13:52whole life? Oh, very good. Yes.