Sab Gold Maal Hai

As the country unabashedly celebrates its love for the yellow metal today, here’s looking at people (with shades on) who have taken their gold obsession to the next level (gold toilets, anyone?). Rappers competing in hip-hop’s gold rush, gold-plated cars and even swimming pools – bling’s just not enough on baubles anymore.

The Grand Gold Man of India
Composer Bappi Lahiri is a walking-talking goldmine, and he confesses it’s lucky for him. He’s even done a soda ad as the ‘golden man of India.’ So dear are his trinkets to him that in 2009, he got into a tu-tu-main-main with a Mumbai hotel’s security as he had to step out of his car and be transported to the main venue in a golf cart. But Bappida flatly refused, and chose to skip the event altogether. "I wear a watch worth `25 lakh, I am known as the ‘gold man,’ I have gold all over me. Who’d be responsible for my security in that dingy open cart? The hotel said it’s their rule after the 26/11 attacks. I’ll step inside that hotel only when they revoke such rules," he’d said at the time.

(L-R) The rap went desi, and desis love gold!

Yo-Yo Honey Singh

, Raftaar and Badshah

Daler Mehendi (L) shows off his gold-wrapped SUV and Tyga's ride has a gold paint job
Sone Ki Gaddi
Yes, there’s a race to outshine the next musician, but how long will you compete with chains and bracelets alone? Daler Mehendi showed us how to blind the competition once and for all when he bought a Porsche Cayenne SUV with a gold wrap, for reportedly around `1.5 crore. Rapper Tyga, whose tour bus is also golden, celebrated an album release in 2012 with a customized Audi with a reflective gold paint job.

Head-to-toe intricate gold work adorned Beyonce (L) and Iggy Azela rides an elephant wearing a golden bodysuit and mukut in her Bounce video
Sir, you want to go India? Go Gold!
One of the many cliches (or USPs, depending on your POV) that firangs fall into is our love for gold. If Beyonce had to appear in Colplay’s made-in-India video for Hymn For The Weekend, it had to be in an opulent gown with gold thread work. Iggy Azalea was apparently inspired by our Ramlila costumes in her Bounce video. For many, India still remains sone ki chidiya.

For Hollywood, it ain’t special if it’s not gold-plated. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are the most famous but not the only owners of gold loos (they have four). Late designer Gianni Versace’s mansion has a swimming pool lined with 24-carat gold tiles. It was converted into a hotel after he was killed.