'Ambani & Sons': The story of India's richest family

Mukesh Ambani's behemoth multi-story new Mumbai home is making front page headlines, fueling the public's fascination with India's richest family. But it took a foreign journalist, Hamish McDonald, to put their story into print.

"Ambani & Sons" is a new, updated version of McDonald's unauthorized and banned biography titled, "The Polyester Prince," published in 1998 by Australian firm Allen & Unwin.

At the time, the Ambanis had threatened legal action but Mumbai being Mumbai, pirated versions continue to sell briskly at city traffic signals even today.

So when publisher Roli Books bid on the Indian rights for "Ambani & Sons," it came as a bit of a surprise to McDonald. Later in an interview to Businessworld McDonald explained the local publisher's emboldened attitude: "Times have changed. The Ambanis are much more sanguine about criticism now."

Family feud as fodder

Perhaps because, after patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani's death in 2002, the family has been as much in the news for their warring personal lives as for their business dealings. For a greater part of this decade the country has been riveted by tales of the feuding brothers, Mukesh and Anil.

After much dirty linen was washed in public, by both sides, McDonald's original book, which traces an ambitious family’s rise to the top, appears almost quaint now.

No wonder then, that the journalist, currently Asia-Pacific editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, wanted to revisit the saga of India's foremost 'rags to riches' family story.

As he passed through Mumbai for the book tour recently, McDonald told a spellbound audience, "I have to admit that when I stepped out of the plane in Delhi I wondered if there was a lawyer waiting to serve me an injunction."

Cinematic white wash

"Ambani & Sons" traces the history of Reliance Industries, from patriarch Dhirubhai's early days in Aden to his time as a dominant yarn trader in Mumbai, to his setting up of textile manufacturing units and finally, the push into petrochemicals. 

Those who've seen the movie "Guru," starring Abhishek Bachchan and wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, can see the parallels the movie draws with Dhirubhai's life.

Abhishek played Gurukant Desai, who set up Shakti Trading, and becomes a sort of cult figure to scores of Indians who invest in (and become rich by) Shakti's stock. The movie portrays a close friendship with a newspaper proprietor, similar to Dhirubhai’s relationship with the late Ramnath Goenka, the celebrated owner of the Indian Express.

Goenka's paper went on to write critically of Reliance, and in the movie there is a similar fall-out between the business tycoon and the press baron.

When McDonald undertook his research for "The Polyester Prince" the Ambanis had initially cooperated with him. That quickly changed though, and he was shut out by the inner circle -- perhaps because they realized that the writer was a serious reporter and would report both the good, the bad and the scandalous, if need be.

It's hard not to think that "The Polyester Prince" had something to do with the making of Mani Ratnam's "Guru," which came out in 2007. The movie is, of course, a highly G-rated and speculated version of the book, extolling the protagonist's virtues while belittling those who besmirched his reputation.

McDonald feels that the making of Guru reflects a shift in attitude amongst the Ambanis as well. "One side of the family was involved in 'Guru'," he claims. "They borrowed episodes from the book so that showed a more mature approach."

Do you bother reading the old edition?

The big difference between the old and the new book is that McDonald cut out a lot of the technical detail found in the earlier version.

Still, the new work is impressive.

In addition to digging through reams of company data, McDonald, with true journalistic grit, tracked down Dhirubhai’s old Aden colleagues in London, and spent time in Mumbai and Gujarat to trace the entrepreneur’s roots. The author says there's no reason now to read the old book, as much of the primary research has carried through to "Ambani & Sons."

Initial response to the book has been positive, says Kapil Kapoor, director of Roli Books.

An initial print run of 20,000 copies has sold out, and a second print run is underway. The publisher further says they have had no interaction with the Ambanis regarding the book.

Story of modern India

And finally, the big question: What drew McDonald to the Ambanis in the first place?

It was that they are "so big, so controversial, there's so much black and white to their story." And indeed, the book's back cover explains that the "Ambani tale contains a bigger story about modern India, not only as an economic powerhouse, but about the complicated links between government and big business."

Asked by someone at the Mumbai book reading if things with Reliance had changed, McDonald replies, "I think Reliance is more respected than it used to be." Which makes one think of the moral dilemmas that lie on the path to power as defined by the 21st century.

And when asked if he might be invited to Mukesh's McMansion housewarming this month, McDonald said that the chances "were slim."

"I'd extend my hand," in greeting, the writer added, but it's doubtful the Ambanis would grip it.