The Vijay Mallya show swings into Scotland

It is impossible to travel on India's Kingfisher Airlines without noticing the owner, Vijay Mallya. Before the plane takes off, the seat-back televisions show a video of him, dripping with jewellery, striding through clouds of dry ice amid models of his fleet of aircraft.

"I've instructed my crew to treat you as a guest in my own home," he announces. "If you miss anything, contact me personally."

It's all part of the Vijay Mallya show: the life of a man who is not content with being a billionaire - he wants to be a celebrity as well.

This is the man who is trying to take over one of Scotland's last independent whisky distillers., Whyte & Mackay.

Last week, Mr Mallya flew into Scotland, and a spokeswoman for his company, United Breweries - the world's third-largest spirits maker - said due diligence had begun and a sale was imminent.

Mr Mallya is keen to get his hands on the Scottish company's vast aged single malt cellar along with its distribution network, which would mean he could sell his own whiskies and rums in Europe.

Whyte & Mackay, which has a 9 per cent share of the global Scotch whisky market, is owned by its chairman Vivian Immerman and his brother-in-law, the Iranian property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz.

Mr Mallya likes to call himself the Richard Branson of India but he is far brasher than Sir Richard. It's not just his diamond earrings and huge identity bracelet with his initials, VJM, picked out in diamonds.

If you want a clue as to why Mr Mallya is reported to be prepared to pay £550m for Whyte & Mackay, this is the man who in 2003 paid more than £200,000 to buy the sword of Tipu Sultan, one of the most formidable Indian leaders to resist British colonial rule, at auction in London.

"Since Tipu's sword is the rightful property of India, I decided to bring it back," Mr Mallya said at the time.

This is also the man who chose last year's Grand National to call an impromptu press conference to denounce the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). Mr Mallya was unhappy with the SWA's attempts to lobby the Indian government to reduce its prohibitively high tariffs on imported spirits, at the same time as refusing to recognise India's molasses-based whiskies.

"India is not a British colony any more," he said. "This imposition of British imperialism is unacceptable. The SWA has to understand there are two sides to the coin. They have double standards. I will continue to oppose SWA coming to India until they allow us to sell in England and Scotland. Nobody can take us for granted."

Mr Mallya may be a showman, but he is an astute businessman as well, and analysts have pointed out that if he gets Whyte & Mackay, he will buy his way into the very SWA he has been denouncing - and get himself some premium imported brands if it does succeed in getting India to lower its tariffs.

When he launched his airline, he managed to talk the state-owned Indian Airlines - a direct competitor -- into providing ground services, and got access to exclusive domestic terminals other private airlines have been trying to get into for years.

He is a member of India's upper house of parliament, but he has moved his family home to San Francisco. He commutes between his various properties - which include a castle in Scotland - on his private Boeing 727.

When Mr Mallya inherited his father's $100m business, centred around his United Breweries, no one expected him to end up where he is today, worth $1bn according to Forbes magazine. Mr Mallya was just 27, and most expected the well-known playboy to fritter away the family millions. He won trophies driving racing cars, and bred racehorses.

But he also turned out to have a gift for business. Today his UB Group dominates the Indian liquor industry. Kingfisher is far the biggest-selling beer. When his competitor Cobra started muscling in on Goa, Mr Mallya is said to have personally visited bars and restaurants that were selling the rival beer to change their minds.

But in India beer sales lag behind hard liquor, especially whisky - India is the world's biggest whisky consumer - and there too UB dominates.

When Mr Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005, it was derided as a publicity stunt - alcohol advertising is illegal in India, but the airline has Kingfisher's name up in lights - and an ego trip.

He confounded his critics by placing orders for Airbus A380 superjumbos for the planned first direct service from India to the US.

In less than two years of operating, Kingfisher is fast emerging as one of the country's leading domestic airlines.

Now Mr Mallya has his sights set on Whyte & Mackay. And he is used to getting what he wants.