Act one, scene three

, while allowing a very small peek into his other interests

When you take the credit for putting arguably India's most successful SUV on the highway, it's hardly surprising that all that people want to talk to you about is the new Scorpio model, changes, mileage, performance... True, Anand Mahindra wants to talk performance too, but in a totally different genre.

New Delhi has been crisping at the edges with an unusually sharp end to winter, and Mahindra's three-piece suit and being out in the sun has, he says, "microwaved" him. So, in a burst of vanity, he's banned the photographer from taking pictures, yet he's enviably relaxed, legs stretched out, tie askew, sipping tea...and yes, engaging in lively banter.

I've been warned that my hour with him is to be devoted to talking exclusively about theatre, the trigger for which is the third Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, and when I do encroach into his personal domain, he adroitly slithers away.

"I'm tired of these so-called lifestyle interviews "" Where is your shirt from? Where is your suit from?" he says, even though it's something he's never too far removed from with wife Anuradha Mahindra publishing two lifestyle magazines (Verve and Man's World) and a third, Rolling Stone, just launched in its Indian avatar.

"We are all," Mahindra allows a little glimpse in through the crack, "middle-age rockers," including the Rolling Stone editor in his sweep. What he does share is his interest in collecting old photographs (an unsigned panorama of turn-of-the-century Calcutta is the pick of his collection, he says, which he picked up from antique shop Phillips in Mumbai), of which his favourite genre is portraits. "My wife has made a triptych of three Parsi bodybuilders, which you can see in our bathroom," he laughs.

While he adroitly fields questions that are not on the day's agenda, Mahindra's insatiable curiosity in people around him "" those present, or in the past "" is palpable. Like the SUV that glamourised the utility vehicle in India, he goes everywhere, is unabashedly voyeuristic, and shares his opinions with ill-concealed glee but also informed and well-travelled insights.

Alas, it's off the record, and we have instead Mahindra & Mahindra's engagement with theatre as our prime focus. Now in its third year, the annual rewards aimed at promoting the culture of theatre and providing it a platform occurred "serendipitously", says Mahindra.

We are sitting in the elegant drawing room of the Mahindra guest house in the capital's Jorbagh, furnished in Art-deco style, while in a plot one house removed, Shah Rukh Khan's new home, Mannat, is under construction. "I wanted to frame a strategic philanthropic approach, not that of a dilettante," he says. "The money we spend belongs to our shareholders."

For 60 years, the group has awarded scholarships in education, recognised talent, and now with Anand Mahindra looking at creating an impact "" "we didn't want to do another Bollywood awards nite" "" the chance sponsorship of Old World Hospitality's theatre festival and a meeting with Ravi Dubey resulted in the initiative to recognise talent in theatre.

In just three years, the involvement of theatre groups has grown "" this year, 90 groups entered the competition "" yet Mahindra says, "We want to drill deeper, reach out and spread more." The festival has now moved to tier two cities, includes folk drama, and Mahindra remains, if anything, more committed.

"Are we reaching everyone?" he muses, "Are we facilitating enough people to participate?" His commitment to make it a pan-Indian event is quite evident. "Today, if Ravi [Dubey] says he wants more money for the awards, I'd give it top priority."

At a time when theatre has taken a backseat to more glamorous entertainment, Mahindra's enthusiasm is contagious. "Theatre is the source code, the Rosetta stone for cinema," he says, pointing out that the focus on Bollywood on the one hand, cricket on the other, is disproportionate to everything else.

"Theatre was probably part of human entertainment from the beginning of civilization. It must be preserved, it has a reach beyond cinema."

Mahindra's interest in the arts is hardly new "" his company was one of the founders of the open source Mumbai Festival "" and he did his undergrad degree from Harvard in visual arts, an euphemism for film-making, which he did, he laughs, as his "rebellion" against being a good student and being ladled with science.

That's presumably where his interest in photography "" and collecting old photographs "" comes in too; "my interest," he says, "did not lie as much in painting as in photography and filmmaking".

This year, winners in 14 categories took away awards ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 1 lakh each, after the shortlisted 10 plays from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, but also Kochi and Guwahati, were performed before audiences and a handpicked jury consisting of theatre professionals Habib Tanvir, Neelam Mansingh, Mahesh Dattani, Manoj Bajpai and Sushma Seth over six days.

"We're happy to act as a proscenium," Mahindra says, "to recognise anything that is pointed out to us as an art form that is neglected or ignored." Surely that deserves a standing ovation?