Between the Sessions: Millets, Mithai and a Malaysian PM Who Loves His Bollywood

New Delhi: Amid the handshakes, hotel-lobby huddles and closed-door talks of the 18th BRICS Summit, two much lighter storylines have given Delhi’s biggest diplomatic weekend of the year a softer, more human edge.

If the summit’s substance has been about trade reform and global governance, its hospitality has been unapologetically local — though it played out on two separate tracks.

Away from Bharat Mandapam, Delhi’s luxury hotels were curating their own showcase of Indian cuisine for the delegations lodged with them for the duration of the summit. At The LaLiT, executive sous chef Amit Biswas said the in-house menu leaned heavily on millets, in step with the Prime Minister’s long-running push for the grain, alongside local and farm-grown produce chosen specifically so visiting delegates could see what India actually grows and eats. Spice levels were calibrated carefully, he said, so that guests from dozens of different countries staying at the hotel could all comfortably enjoy the same table. The Taj Mahal, New Delhi, built a similar collection called “Tradition to Table,” with dishes traced back to individual chefs’ own mothers, while The Leela offered a striking edible lotus built around rose, saffron and cardamom, alongside savoury staples like Kashmiri spiced walnuts and galouti kebabs. This was hospitality for guests bunking at these properties, not catering for the summit itself.

The gala dinner Prime Minister Modi hosted for BRICS leaders was a separate, centrally organised affair at Bharat Mandapam, the summit venue, run through the official arrangements for the leaders’ programme rather than by any single outside hotel. Its menu featured khandvi mille-feuille, khumb galouti, paneer lababdar, gucchi marmik, carrot-bean poriyal and millet pulao, rounded off with Old Delhi fruit cream with jalebi and shahtoot phirni for dessert — an all-vegetarian spread built to put India’s culinary range, rather than any single regional cuisine, on full display for the visiting heads of state.

Anwar Ibrahim’s well-known soft spot for Bollywood

A political summit is usually shorthand for formal speeches and serious, closed-door discussion. But Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gave his trip to India a distinctly different flavour, breaking into song at a gala dinner on the sidelines of the summit.

Anwar chose a vintage classic for the moment: Kishore Kumar’s 1965 hit “Khwaab Ho Tum Ya Koi Haqeeqat” from the film Teen Devian, a romantic number composed by S.D. Burman with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Backed by a live pianist, the Malaysian leader worked his way through the song in front of the assembled dinner guests, turning what would ordinarily be a night of protocol and politics into an unexpectedly warm, informal moment that drew the room’s attention.

It isn’t the first time Anwar has let a diplomatic evening turn musical. During his 2024 state visit to India, he closed out his trip with an impromptu performance at Delhi’s Taj Mahal hotel, singing “Dost Dost Na Raha” from the 1964 film Sangam, after telling his hosts about his fondness for Bollywood and for actor-filmmaker Shammi Kapoor. And earlier this year, he was filmed singing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” at an official luncheon in Putrajaya, with Thailand’s prime minister accompanying him on saxophone.

Between the vegetarian banquets built around India’s culinary heritage and the Malaysian PM’s now well-established habit of serenading his hosts, this year’s BRICS Summit has had no shortage of moments to make even the most seasoned diplomacy-watchers smile.