GQ Gentlemen's Club

In an era marked by manic competitiveness and relentless self-promotion, Chennai represents a refreshing return to old-world values: respect, integrity and camaraderie. And somehow still manages to have a wild side. (It helps to have a languorous coastal road that’ll help you escape the city on a whim.) Four illustrious gentlemen – Tamil superstar Vikram Prabhu; race car driver Armaan Ebrahim; former India batsman S Badrinath; and designer Vivek Karunakaran – joined occasionally by photographer Kunal Daswani, came together at the opulent Leela Palace Chennai to reveal why the city by the sea swings to its own beat.

- Shikha Sethi

What’s the best thing about Chennai?

VIVEK KARUNAKARAN: I think it’s the people. Maybe a lot of other things don’t work, but the people are what make the city. I’m from Trivandrum, but I call Chennai home. I moved here in 1999, when it was hot, stinky Madras.

And now it’s cooler?

KARUNAKARAN: Not yet, but everyone in this room is trying to make it cool. But even when these cool things are happening, everyone likes to keep it quiet and do their thing. They like to be low-key and not make a big deal out of what they’re doing.

VIKRAM PRABHU: Chennai and Tamil Nadu in general have been going through a bad phase for the last couple of years, with the floods, cyclones… Every time December rolls around, we start getting nervous. So to go through all that, stay positive and keep rebuilding is tough. But we’re doing a pretty good job.

ARMAAN EBRAHIM: When our backs are against the wall, there’s complete and total unity in the city.

S BADRINATH: The language ties us together. It’s one of the oldest languages in the world – it unites the entire state.

KARUNAKARAN: There’s a lot of pride in the language. I think one of the reasons why outsiders instantly hate Chennai is because of the language.

BADRINATH: Personally, I struggled a lot when I joined the national Indian team. I couldn’t understand Hindi, and most of the guys on the team are from UP, etc, so I felt a little bit left out, initially. But then I learned Hindi.