Look, I’ve been following Vijay Mallya’s story for years, and honestly? The guy’s life reads like someone took a soap opera script and said, “Make it weirder.” Between proposing on airplanes and dodging arrest warrants across borders—all while somehow making more money—this guy’s life has had more twists than a Netflix series.
That Insane Airplane Proposal Story
So picture this: it’s 1986, and Mallya’s just trying to get to the US for some business thing. Nothing fancy, right? Wrong. He gets on this Air India flight and sees Sameera Tyabjee working as a flight attendant. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I see someone cute on a plane, I maybe make awkward eye contact and hope they notice me.
This guy? He goes full Bollywood hero and proposes. While she’s literally doing her job. At cruising altitude. I still can’t wrap my head around the confidence that takes. Like, what if she’d said no? Awkward much?
But here’s the kicker—she actually said yes! They got married that same year, and by 1987 they had little Siddhartha running around. For a hot minute there, it looked like this crazy romantic gesture was actually going to work out.
Except… well, reality hit hard. They moved to England thinking maybe a fresh start would help, but instead everything just fell apart. The fighting got worse, they couldn’t seem to get along, and by the time their kid was barely walking, they were done.
What gets me is how Siddhartha handled it all later. The kid grew up mostly with his mom but stayed close to his dad and eventually wrote this whole book about dealing with his parents’ divorce. Honestly, if you’re going to have family drama, you might as well turn it into a bestseller, right?
The Second Time Around With Rekha
After the whole Sameera situation crashed and burned (and I mean really crashed—divorce is never fun), Mallya did something we’ve all done. He went back to someone from his past. In this case, it was Rekha, who he’d known since they were kids.
Here’s what I find interesting: she’d also worked as a flight attendant. I mean, come on, the man clearly had a type! But this wasn’t just some rebound situation. They had real history together, plus she was going through her own messy divorce and had two kids from previous relationships.
Sometimes the best relationships happen when two people are both kind of broken and figure things out together. They got married in 1993, and Mallya did something genuinely sweet—he adopted her daughter Laila like she’d always been his. They had two more daughters after that, Leanna and Tanya.
What I respect about Rekha is how she handled the whole circus that comes with being married to Mallya. While he’s out there being his flashy self, making headlines, and living it up, she just… disappeared from the spotlight. Smart woman. Why deal with all that drama when you don’t have to?
The Pinky Situation—Nobody Really Knows
This is where things get really messy and, honestly, kind of sad. There’s this woman, Pinky Lalwani, who used to work for Kingfisher Airlines. She’s way younger than Mallya—we’re talking 23 years younger, which always makes me uncomfortable when I think about it too much.
Nobody knows if they’re actually married or what their deal is. She shows up to his court hearings in London; they apparently live together in his mansion, but neither of them will say what’s really going on. It’s like watching this weird public guessing game where everyone’s trying to figure out their relationship status.
Maybe they’re genuinely happy together, maybe it’s complicated, maybe it’s none of our business. But when you’re a public figure fighting extradition while your maybe-wife sits in court with you, people are going to talk.
The Property Thing Is Just Ridiculous.
I’ve seen rich people before, but Mallya’s property collection is on another level entirely. We’re talking about 26 properties across two continents. Twenty-six! That’s not wealth, that’s like… I don’t even know what to call it.
His London places include these gorgeous old buildings from the 1800s. In New York, he’s got this multi-million-dollar penthouse plus three more condos in Trump Plaza. There’s a French estate near Cannes, that famous Mumbai beach house everyone talks about, places in California… it just goes on and on.
The crazy part is he’s had to sell some of them because of his legal troubles. But even that’s wild to me—having so many houses that you can just pick a few to sell when you need cash. Most of us struggle to afford one mortgage, and this guy’s playing real estate Monopoly with actual millions.
Cars That Make No Sense to Own
Don’t even get me started on his car collection. The man owns a Mercedes that they only made about 2,700 of. Ever. It’s not just expensive; it’s basically extinct. Then there’s this red Ferrari from the ’80s and a Rolls-Royce that probably costs more than most people make in a lifetime.
I remember reading that he had this regular Herald when he was in college. The progression from that to owning some of the rarest cars on earth is honestly mind-blowing when you think about it.
The Money Math That Doesn’t Make Sense
Here’s the part that really gets me. In 2013, everyone knew Mallya was worth around $750 million. Rich, obviously, but not crazy rich by billionaire standards. Then all the legal stuff hit—loan defaults worth thousands of crores, fraud allegations, the whole mess that made him flee India.
You’d think that would be the end of his wealth story, right? Wrong. By 2022, somehow his net worth had jumped to over a billion dollars. While he’s fighting extradition. While he can’t even come back to India. While banks are trying to recover money from him.
I honestly don’t understand how that math works. His old empire included United Breweries, Kingfisher Airlines (which crashed spectacularly), and the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team. Some of those ventures failed miserably, but somehow he’s richer now than ever?
What Do You Even Do With This Story?
After following this whole saga for years, I’m still not sure what to make of Vijay Mallya. On one hand, you’ve got this guy who built legitimate businesses and employed thousands of people. On the other hand, there are serious questions about how he handled money and whether he basically robbed banks to fund his lifestyle.
The personal stuff is just as complicated. Three relationships, kids who seem to genuinely love him despite everything, and this whole larger-than-life persona that he’s maintained even while living in exile.
Is he a villain who stole money to fund his crazy lifestyle? A businessman who got caught up in circumstances beyond his control? A hopeless romantic who just happens to have terrible timing with proposals?
Maybe he’s all of those things. Maybe that’s what makes his story so fascinating—it doesn’t fit into neat categories. At 70, he’s still making headlines, still fighting legal battles, still somehow living like a king while half the world wants him arrested.
Whether you think he’s admirable or awful probably says more about your own values than about him. But one thing’s for sure—”boring” is the last word anyone would use to describe Vijay Mallya’s life.