#sunil badami

[indizombie]

Whisky was glamorised as prestigious, modern and sophisticated – especially in Bollywood movies. While drinkers had previously been depicted as evil or tragic (such as Devdas, which tells the story of a young man who succumbs to alcoholism, which, has been filmed 25 times, is the most adapted Indian film ever), from the 1970s, drinking whisky was portrayed as stylish and macho. A 2020 study by the Indian Journal of Psychiatry of Bollywood films from 1960 to 2010 found that films from 2001 had the most scenes featuring stars enjoying Scotch in clubs and bars, including women, concluding that films made from 2001: "had the most proportion of scenes set in clubs, bars, discotheques, or restaurants; scenes with characters of "positive" shade depicting alcohol use, and the scenes portraying heroines with alcohol use. There is an increasing trend toward alcohol depiction by positive characters for fun and relaxation."

Sunil Badami, ‘India's whisky consumption rises by 200pc in 10 years’, ABC

[indizombie]

Although India is Scotch's second biggest export market in value after the United States, it's only two per cent of the total Indian market, despite tripling in value over the decade to 2019, and increasing by 60 per cent from 2021 to 2022. Since Brexit, the British government, which hasn't had much luck since it left the European Union, has been trying to negotiate a new free trade agreement with India – whose economy just overtook its former coloniser's – especially to increase Scotch's market share, arguing a reduction in tariffs could triple Scotch's market share, bringing a potential 340 billion rupees ($6.29 billion) increase in tax revenue.

Sunil Badami, ‘India's whisky consumption rises by 200pc in 10 years’, ABC

[indizombie]

Although many Indian whiskies like Bagpiper, Royal Stag, 100 Pipers, Peter Scot or McDowells may sound Scottish, they're actually "Indian-made foreign liquor" – local spirits usually made from molasses, sometimes blended with actual Scotch, and bottled in India to overcome massive 150 per cent tariffs on imported liquor.

Sunil Badami, ‘India's whisky consumption rises by 200pc in 10 years’, ABC

[indizombie]

While Scotch was a mainstay of the British club, Indians didn't initially warm to the drink, preferring local, indigenous liquor, also known as desi daru, such as toddy or arak, or bhang (cannabis). In 1894, the British Hemp and Drugs Commission released a report claiming that Scotch was safer than desi daru or cannabis. Soon, the Westernised Indian elite – like my own family, who were among the first Indians to join the renowned Bangalore Club – started drinking whisky too.

Sunil Badami, ‘India's whisky consumption rises by 200pc in 10 years’, ABC

[indizombie]

Indian whisky consumption has exploded by more than 200 per cent in the past decade, with India overtaking France this year to become the world's largest buyer of whisky by volume, guzzling over half the world's whisky – a staggering 1.5 billion litres!

Sunil Badami, ‘India's whisky consumption rises by 200pc in 10 years’, ABC