By Vijaya Rathore
When a state has flamboyance as a sub-culture and makes no bones about it, you know that Prada and Gucci might as well be part of folklore. By the river Chenab, it’s as if you can almost hear the jingle-jangle of the Swarovski-studded bangles of Heer even as time stands still in the Cellini Rolex that adorns the wrist of her eternal lover Ranjha.
“Punjabi dil se hi branded hote hain (We come branded at heart),” says Mika, Bhangra superstar and Bollywood playback singer, who’d rather show off the orange Hummer that he imported to India about seven years ago than try to impress you with his deftness with higher octaves.
“A lot of people may own Hummers, but no one in Asia has an orange one,” says Mika, who insists his eyewear would either be Prada or Louis Vuitton. “My favourite watch is the Rs 40-lakh Rolex,” Mika adds for good measure, him, originally from Patiala, born in Durgapur and raised in Patna.
Mika and his ilk feel eminently proud to be a part of the music mall of Bhangra where ace global brands these days vie with each other for your attention lest you get lost in the melee or meaning of lyrics.
And so are their avid listeners. Like Navjot Kaur, all of 25, who decided to go for a Gucci handbag after hearing Honey Singh – the controversial but popular Bhangra-rap singer – expound virtues of the 92-year-old Florentine brand thus: Main keha kaali teri Gucci, te Prada tera laal; Kithe challo oh sohneyo, sajh dajh ke. In the video from the album curiously titled International Villager, Singh is seen zipping in a red convertible Bugatti announcing that he’d go for a brown-skinned Indian girl over any ‘white chick’.
And back home, Indian girls seem to be swallowing the bait – hook, line, singer and brand. “I always knew about Gucci, but got a craving to own the label after watching Honey Singh videos… It’s cool stuff,” says Kaur, who claims she is in love with Honey Singh.
Kaur bought a Gucci bag along with a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes from Delhi recently in cash, as birthday gifts from her businessman father.
Be it singer Sharry Maan who weaves in Armani and Enfield Bullet in his songs, or a Bollywood hero wooing a girl to go for a long drive in his Pajero to celebrate her ‘Appy Birthday’, Punjabi songs are talking the brand language like never before.
In one of India’s richest states with a sizeable population of NRIs, high-street brands have always had a great ride, but the brush with Bhangra is making them fly.
Brand experts say these songs are only projecting what’s there on the ground. “These songs are short-hand for a certain kind of lifestyle Punjabis have. It is aspirational,” says brand consultant Santosh Desai. Also, brands that are iconic find a place in these songs. “They do not become iconic just because they are mentioned in a song,” he adds.
Songwriters underwrite what Desai observes by clarifying that they never make a deliberate attempt to promote any brand.
“It is a way of storytelling by describing a personality. People in Punjab love dressing up and love to wear brands,” says singer Sharry Maan. He says Punjabi is a very ‘practical language’ and integrating English names is easy. “Youngsters want to be seen wearing the best and these are the same people who like our songs,” adds Maan, who is currently busy composing a couple of new songs that will also have many brand names, including a few luxury labels.
Thanks to the huge NRI population, most Punjabis have a close connect with Canada, the UK and Australia. Even the songwriters, singers and composers have either lived abroad or record the music at international locations, which exposes them to global lifestyles, luxury and the world of brands, which eventually gets reflected back home.
Though Gucci, Prada or Armani may not have opened shops in Punjab yet, brands that are already in Punjab are having a great time.
Brooks Brothers, a UK-based menswear brand that sells suits for Rs 70,000 and above, recently opened its largest store in the country in Chandigarh, and is happy being there. “Shortly after we opened, a middle-aged man walked in asking for the most expensive suits in the store for his son’s wedding,” says an executive managing the brand.
Vijay Singh, a Mumbai-based businessman, who owns a hotel in Ludhiana, says the spending capacity of people in the state matches Delhi and Mumbai. “The per guest expense at weddings in Punjab goes up to Rs 3,000 and many times more than a big wedding in Delhi or Mumbai,” says Singh.
Karanjeet Singh, who owns a multi-brand outlet selling brands like Rado, Longines, Tag Heuer, Mont Blanc and Omega, says his customers splurge on watches with gold, diamonds and Swarovski crystals. “We sell watches priced between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh. A lot of people buy expensive ones when they travel to Chandigarh or Delhi and even abroad,” he says.
Coming back to the bhangra brands, Mitsubishi sells about 250 Pajero cars in the state per year. Sachin Goyal, owner of Ludhiana-based Northern Motors, says the company is adding more dealerships in view of rising demand from high networth individuals. “People here love to take the SUVs to the fields ideally suited for only tractors,” says Goyal. He often makes sales pitch to prospective buyers referring to local celebrities or politicians who own the same car. “Buyers get exciting about the vehicles they see in films, music videos or being are used by celebrities,” he points out.
Fashion house Satya Paul is seeing its business in Punjab growing at 30-40% annually. “People are open minded and progressive, with an enthusiasm towards opulence making it an accessible eager market,” says Rajiv Grover, vice president of the high-end brand owned by Genesis Colors.
Source:The Economic Times
Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved
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“In 2009, we felt the need to invest more in this country. That’s the reason the decision was made to take over the business entirely,” Mr Marco said. Gucci, which has five stores in India, will not only open new boutiques in the country but also refurbish the existing ones. “We are in the works for a number of projects. But retail is one of the biggest obstacles,” he said.