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Diary

Nikki Bedi

Wednesday, 30th April 2008

Nikke Bedi on botox and non-bailable arrest warrants

Everyone’s a photographer today, thanks to mobile phones. At a recent Kaiser Chiefs gig I couldn’t figure out why people were choosing to film all the action rather than actually experiencing it; when I looked down from a balcony the crowd was an undulating sci-fi sea of rectangular screen lights. What’s the point of going to see live music if you view it through a little screen? But I defy anyone to see Gogol Bordello and put a phone to his or her face for very long. The gypsy punk collective whip their crowd into such pogo frenzy you have no choice but to be present and involved. I interviewed their lead ‘singer’ and guitarist Eugene Hütz on Tuesday, before their Birmingham night. Rangy, and wearing various shades of purple, mega-moustachioed Hütz initially came across as irascible and slightly hostile. He has unique views on most things and relishes challenging people’s beliefs and attitudes. I find him fascinating. Evidently so does Madonna. She cast him as the lead in her first feature film and they electrified the stage when they collaborated at Live Earth. We argued about whether people listen to the words of songs. He insists they don’t, saying it’s only a tone we ever really respond to. The show was exhilarating; music, sweat and attitude combined with circus and theatre. Nothing contrived.

One of the things I love about my daily show on the BBC’s Asian Network is the extraordinarily diverse people I get to meet and interview. This week I went from Hütz to Patrick French in the space of 24 hours. Patrick has a book to peddle, the excellent biography of Sir V.S. Naipaul. We also discussed his love for India. He wrote about me in the late Nineties, in his book Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division. I had a prime-time talk-show called Nikki Tonight on Star TV and managed to get both Rupert Murdoch and myself non-bailable arrest warrants. It’s a long story but, briefly, a guest on my show called Gandhi a ‘bastard bania’ and Gandhiji’s great-grandson took it very badly and launched a case against us all and there was no more Nikki Tonight. So much for India being a secular democracy. A point raised and explored rather well by Patrick.