Prakash Lulla : The multi-millionaire Indian businessman carrying his father’s legacy

Gulf News

Full Article here: https://gn24.ae/8d30346f20d4000 See more at https://gulfnews.com/videos The late senior Lulla was instrumental in helping shape Dubai. He spoke Arabic fluently, just like a local tribesman. He was a popular Indian businessman and a pioneer who brought quality hospitality to the UAE. #Millionaire #PrakashLulla #Businessman

Transcript

00:00You must have heard about the Astoria and the Ambassador Group of Hotels.

00:04Well, I'm sitting here with the founder of the hotel, Mr. Prakash Lulla.

00:09Well, he has a very interesting background and we are here to talk about his life history

00:14and more importantly, his father's life history.

00:17He was a visionary and he is part of the changing Dubai.

00:23His father, his late father, L.R. Lulla came here in 1950 and started the first hotel in

00:30Dubai.

00:31So, thank you so much, Mr. Prakash, for giving us this interview to Gulf News.

00:35Mrs. Nandina, thank you very much for taking the time to come and see me today.

00:40I've got to correct you, I'm not the founder of this organization, it was my father, interestingly,

00:49my grandfather came to Dubai somewhere around 1942, as I used to hear from my mom that

00:55he came here before the independence.

00:58And then, my father used to work first for the Sharjah Airport and one day, his highness

01:06Sheikh Rashid called him and said, I'm thinking of starting an airport in Dubai.

01:12My father was hired and along with him, two other Indian gentlemen and my father's roll

01:18number, till he passed away in 2009, at the decree of his highness, was still 00001.

01:26My father in those days used to see that people would come and sleep at the airport itself.

01:34There were no proper facilities, so he started a two-bedroom guest house and father used

01:42to work at the airport and he used to also work with the British Petroleum Company.

01:47So, one room was 365 days taken by the British Petroleum Company and that's when the real

01:55hospitality sector started, after which he started an 8-room hotel in 1957 called the

02:01Airlines Hotel.

02:04His highness was very happy by having this hotel, then he extended another 16 rooms and

02:11eventually when they did the dredging of the creek to allow bigger ships to come in,

02:16the foundation of that building became weak and Sheikh Rashid then told my dad, let's

02:23make the tallest building in the country.

02:29That's how the Ambassador was started.

02:31It was actually the vision of his highness Sheikh Rashid and the Ambassador Hotel is

02:38an 8-storey building and I'll share with you a very interesting picture where Sheikh

02:45Rashid himself and the respected sheikhs of all the other six emirates had been invited

02:53for dinner by Sheikh Rashid and a nice shamiya was erected on the roof of the hotel and that's

03:01a very interesting picture that just speaks about the hotel.

03:05Wow, that's so nice.

03:07So much memory there and then tell us about any experiences that your father taught you.

03:17I myself requested my dad to, if not to write a book because he was too modest in that sense,

03:27I told him why don't you at least just pen your thoughts and whenever we used to meet

03:34the old timers and the things they used to talk about were actually strange to me but

03:39the old timers used to know and he somehow never got to write the book but there are

03:47a lot of memoirs he wrote down which he shared with me.

03:53Being the first hotel which had continental chefs and in those days all the dignitaries

04:02like Queen Elizabeth herself, Indira Gandhi, Narsimha Rao, they all have come and stayed

04:08here.

04:09All the film actors from Amitabh Bachchan to probably Anil Kapoor, they've all come

04:17and stayed over here and all the cricketers, I was very fond of cricket and every time

04:25they used to have matches in Sharjah, all of them used to come and spend time with me

04:30over here.

04:32Dad was lucky to spend a lot of time with his Highnesses and because he could speak

04:39Arabic as fluently as a Bedouin, it broke a lot of barriers so his Highness Sheikh Mohammed

04:50was very close to him and Sheikh Mohammed always used to appreciate people with new

04:55ideas and there are a lot of projects that my father suggested to his Highness and immediately

05:06the catering contracts used to be given to my father, we started the offshore catering

05:11contracts, construction companies, all of that in discussion with his Highness, a lot

05:18of suggestions were given by my father and of course Sheikh Rashid was a visionary, interestingly

05:28my father used to tell me that Sheikh Rashid once took a few friends to Sheikh Zayed Road,

05:35at that time it used to be called Dubai, Abu Dhabi Road and he collected a few pebbles

05:40and put six or seven of them and took a few others and scattered it and he said you all

05:48must know that one day there will be a building in proportion to that and he was referring

05:53to the World Trade Center which was then the tallest building and of course his Highness

05:58Sheikh Mohammed has carried forward that vision and now you have the Burj Khalifa, so interesting

06:06times that my father lived in, he saw everything come up.

06:12And you yourself were born and raised here?

06:14I was born in India, but I came here in the same year and I have lived here ever since,

06:23schooled here, which school did you go to?

06:27To the St. Mary's and I wanted to study law, that's when in 1980 I shifted to Indian High

06:33School but then destiny had something else planned, so I got involved in the hotel.

06:40And when did you take over the mantle of your dad's business?

06:44More so from 82 till about 86, I was not given any official title in the hotel because my

06:54father wanted me to work in each and every department and he was a very strict disciplinarian

07:00himself and I'm thankful to him, right down to butchery, I was made to work in that department

07:11also, so around 86 or 87 is when I was given an office and added responsibilities and by

07:19which time as I said I'm thankful to him, I could understand every time a paper came

07:24to me, what it meant, what those numbers meant and you learn a lot more by actually

07:31doing rather than studying about it in school.

07:34Absolutely, so you started from the scratch, I mean he didn't want to like put you right

07:39up there, he wanted you to be where everyone starts from, you know right in the bottom

07:45and what was that learning experience for you?

07:48It was fantastic, the reason is one day I told my father, I said all these cricketers

07:55come and they see somebody else sitting on the boss's chair, not me and I feel funny

08:03telling them I'm working at the reception, like Kapil, Dev, Sachin, they were all my

08:07friends, so my father did mention to me once, he says son if I want I can get you the boss's

08:13chair immediately but I'll be digging your grave for you and he gave me an example, he

08:18said if I sit in the maintenance department of the hotel, I can assure you that the room

08:24boy on the fourth floor will not leave his job at 2.59 knowing that senior Mr. Lulla

08:30is in the hotel, that's what he wanted me to develop, that personality, your presence

08:35has to be felt, respect cannot be demanded, it has to be commanded and he wanted me to

08:42go through the entire exercise of earning that respect and today I enjoy the respect

08:49of all my seniors and these are people whom I can't do without.

08:54Absolutely, that's so interesting and what is happening with the Ambassador Hotel?

09:01The Ambassador Hotel started in 1968, it's a very solid structure, we were given two

09:12options, one to demolish the building and make a new structure or they wanted us to

09:21upgrade the entire hotel, especially the piping, the wirings, so we opted for option number

09:29two and then Vassal asked us to make sure that it's done before the 2020, so I perceive

09:37by about March 2020, the hotel will be up and running and until then, at umpteen number

09:45of parties, I've been hearing people saying, hey, Ambassador closed down, I said until,

09:50everybody, you, you know us, so Ambassador is very much on track and that's a flagship

10:02and that's the start of history of Dubai, hospitality in Dubai started basically with

10:09the Ambassador Hotel and that was something that His Highness Sheikh Rashid used to pride

10:14upon, as I will share some pictures with you, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed used to visit

10:20the hotel often with the dignitaries that came and they would take pride that we have

10:25a hotel that no other state has.

10:27Right, and so right now, do you have a new design in place?

10:32No, the structure is the same but a lot of the back end work and the interiors is being

10:41worked upon.

10:42Okay, that's great.

10:43As a wrap, like obviously you owe everything to the land of UAE.

10:48Absolutely.

10:49Because, I mean, this is where you were born and raised, where your dad created history,

10:55so what would you like to add to that in terms of what the UAE has given you?

11:01My father passed away in 2009 and in January, he passed away in August, in January, while

11:11I was coming to the hotel, my father just one day told me, he said, son, sometime soon

11:15we will go and meet His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and I want to thank him.

11:20We have cars, we have drivers, we have domestic workers, we have a nice house in India, we

11:26have a nice living standard here and it's all thanks to the Muktum family and I remember

11:32telling my dad, I said, why are you being so philosophical?

11:36He said, go and thank His Highness, but it was not to be.

11:41Strangely enough, after the immersion of the ashes, one day I was driving to Shirdi and

11:49halfway through, my cousin Kamlesh, who is the manager of the hotel, called me and he

11:53says, you know, His Highness is looking for you.

11:55So I said, yeah, right.

11:57He doesn't even know me.

11:58He said, no, I mean it.

12:01I put my UAE chip on the phone and within 10 minutes I got a call from the office of

12:06His Highness, saying that he was coming in a jet and when he opened the newspaper, he

12:13saw the full page ad placed by Indian High School, because my father is also a trustee

12:17and he exclaimed that Mr. Bhullar served my father so well and I want to see the children

12:25tomorrow.

12:26So the next day we came back and at 7 o'clock we went to His Highness' palace.

12:34He personally met us.

12:36It was 10 minutes and after knowing that my father was quite ill for the last 5 years,

12:44he genuinely meant it, that he was very sorry for us and he had to go somewhere.

12:52We got up and he put his hands on mine and my brother's shoulders and he says, look,

12:57if you need anything, you can come and see me at any time and he turned around to Mr.

13:05Gagave and just nodded, in the sense like, you know, let them come and all we did was

13:13say, Your Highness, you are like our father and that's when I told him, I said, strangely

13:19in January, my father wanted to come and thank you, so much so that the clothes we

13:24are wearing, courtesy your family.

13:27And he was so humble and down to earth.

13:30He said, no, no, your father worked very hard all his life.

13:34He deserved what he got.

13:36What more can you ask?

13:38I mean, in no other country you would see a Prime Minister or President calling somebody

13:43and thanking him for his contribution in the 50s.

13:46Today you have hotels that touch the sky, but to actually recall the past and give us

13:56that kind of love and respect, which money cannot buy.

14:00That's what the land of UAE has given us.

14:05What a lovely story of Mr. Lulla.

14:07For more on this, please log on to www.girlfriends.com.

14:12A full line-up of the story is online as well as you can see it on print.

14:18This is Anjana Kumar for Girls News.

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