Capture The Dream: The Many Lives of Captain C. P. Krishnan Nair by Bachi Karkaria. Published in 2022 by Juggernaut Books, C-1-128, First Floor, Sangam Vihar, Near Holi Chowk, New Delhi, 110080. Pp: xii+253. Price: Rs 799.
A boy born in a humble family in a small hamlet in Kerala’s Kannur district rose to dizzying heights. Capt Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair would have been 100 in February 2022. By the time he passed away, aged 92, his rich legacy straddled the world of textiles, hospitality and a whole lot more. In this biography commissioned by the family on the occasion of his centenary, veteran 
journalist Bachi Karkaria (pictured) captures his personal and professional journey in a delightful manner. She tells us about his many careers and how he went from one in the Indian Army to running a successful handloom business to setting up a hotel chain which was among the best in the world. His contribution to the hospitality sector was pioneering in the way his hotels consciously showcased India — the grand past through architecture and artefacts, as well as the present, through top quality service.
Nair, who wore colorful linen suits and drove a Rolls-Royce, had certainly come a long way from his humble Dalit origins in Kannur. His army career drew him into the ambit of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi. Post his army days, Nair established a successful textile empire before venturing into the hotel business. When he was in his sixties he went on to establish the Leela Hotels, named after his wife and guide. He refused to give up when even most of his hotel projects became mired in seemingly insurmountable problems. In all his ventures it was Leela who was a major influence and, apart from the army which she made him leave, this indomitable woman was instrumental in all his career changes. He could refuse her nothing and when Leela willed for something, Nair usually found a way. Temperamentally they were very different. She was reserved, while he was the flamboyant extrovert. But they say opposites attract and the two were true soul mates.
Nair had not one but many careers and was influenced by many eminent people who opened doors for him, one of whom was former defence minister V. P. Menon. (According to Karkaria, he was introduced to Menon because of the prawn pickle his mother had sent for him via Menon’s wife, Kanakkamma, also a native of Kannur.) When Nair wanted to start manufacturing lace, he approached the managing director (MD) of Johnson Shields Company in Nottingham. The Englishman wanted a reference. "Uncle VP” had put in a word to Lord Louis Mountbatten about his nephew and when asked for a reference Nair made a telephone call to Mountbatten. The astonished MD, stunned at the identity of the person at the other end, immediately obliged.
Promoter of the humble handloom and manufacturer of Scottish lace, Nair later became the biggest Indian exporter of ready-to-wear materials to the US, supplying all the reputed labels such as Gloria Vanderbilt, Brooks Brothers and Tommy Hilfiger, whose founder even dropped in to have coffee with Nair on the latter’s last visit to New York City at age 90. Many people dream big but it was Nair who had the gumption to take risks, pulling out all the stops to capture his dreams. Nair comes across as someone with indefatigable energy, generosity and a genuine empathy towards people. His ability to take risks showed he was unafraid of failure, his confidence and optimism ensuring that he would triumph in the end.
Nair became a hotelier even though he knew nothing about the hospitality industry when he entered the business. At a time when most people retire he started a new career and, much like Hasmukh Parekh who started the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) after retiring from the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), Nair who had already made a fortune in the textile business (he was one of the pioneers of the Bleeding Madras fabric that became such a rage in the US) started his hotel business. He built the first Leela hotel in Bombay on land that he already possessed when he realized that the new international terminal of Bombay airport at Sahar would open nearby.
He modeled it on a hotel he had seen in Budapest, not perhaps the ideal choice, but he learnt quickly. Since he had an airport hotel in mind, he tied up with the Penta group whose forte was three-star hotels. He quickly dumped Penta and took his Bombay property upmarket, using the Kempinski brand. Later, he negotiated an arrangement with Four Seasons, hoping to give his hotels an international edge, a relationship that ultimately broke down. The Bombay hotel ran into problems even before it opened. There were doubts over whether he had the right to build a hotel on land so close to the airport, and if so, questions about the structure’s height. Nair persevered, and called on friends like Vasantdada Patil, the powerful chief minister of Maharashtra, to bail him out. He blamed Ajit Kerkar of the Taj group for his woes, something he was quite vocal about. The Bombay Leela eventually yielded good profits.
The Goa hotel was a huge success and was, according to him, a response to the Taj. He felt he had been treated badly at the Taj’s Fort Aguada hotel and vowed to build a better hotel. He succeeded eventually when the Leela Goa became Goa’s top hotel. He forgave the Taj only after Kerkar retired and his friend, R. K. Krishna Kumar was at the helm. Leela also scored big because Nair, more than any other hotelier, was a passionate gardener. He was an accomplished horticulturist and foreign plants found their way into Leela properties around Indian architecture. He never returned from his travels without seeds and saplings, on occasion two suitcases full.
Nair was a bon vivant and loved the good life. He would quote former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "My tastes are simple. I want only the best.” As Karkaria observes, "If the Leela hotels were a bird, they would be a peacock. The chairman too was given to flashy plumage. He would team a cream-colored suit with a polka-dotted shirt and green tie, always a pocket square, and often that preppy affectation, suspenders.” A generous man, he also pampered his family. His wife had the entire range of Louis Vuitton clutches; and Nair brought back fistfuls of South Sea pearl bracelets for his wife and granddaughters. As the author narrates in the introduction, "The child who could get only rice gruel for breakfast went on to dine with kings.”
But it was never all smooth sailing for Nair. The purchase of land at the edge of Lake Pichola in Udaipur caused much grief because no construction was permitted for a long time by the environmentalists. True to his style he persevered, doggedly holding on till the new chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, whose parents had been his friends, came to his aid. He was diddled by the Central government over his first Delhi property, never obtaining the land he had paid for and worse still, not even getting back the hundreds of crores he had already handed over. He eventually got his money back but the company nearly went under before an unexpected reprieve when the Bangalore Leela opened. As the software industry boomed so did the Leela’s profits.
Nair also successfully lobbied for positive policy reforms in the textiles and hospitality industries that benefitted competitors as well. Kannur also benefitted, getting a new airport. His greatest triumph was putting forward an image of India in an age unaided by post-liberalization ease. He did this as the largest exporter of ready-to-wear garments to the top US labels. Later, his hotels showcased the country’s heritage along with the latest in luxury and service.
Nair did not mentor just his sons Dinesh and Vivek into leaders, but also a host of other colleagues. The runaway success of the Bleeding Madras textile brand and Leela properties across India was the result of teamwork. He wanted to reorient brand India in a modern ethos. That he succeeded so spectacularly is due to his extraordinary talents for branding and marketing. Nair faced multiple challenges most of which he overcame with panache. His refusal to compromise on his vision bore rich dividends, but it had its downside too. He had overextended himself and in the end the debt burden proved to be too much. In 2019, five years after his death, the Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management took over all Leela properties and the brand, leaving only Bombay Leela with the Nair family. Nair’s professional legacy still continues in the Leela brand but his personal legacy echoes far beyond that brand.
Karkaria writes with her usual flair but the book could have done with better editing. While I am a votary of short chapters the book takes this to extremes. I was unable to comprehend the logic of having a chapter which is a little over a page and comprises a few paragraphs. This is merely a quibble though, and Karkaria who gave us a very readable account of the life of another hotelier, Mohan Singh Oberoi (Dare to Dream) three decades ago, has efficiently chronicled the very interesting life of the multifaceted and enigmatic Captain, a man who is best remembered as the hotelier who redefined luxury.
BAKHTIAR DADABHOY
Dadabhoy is a Bombay based bureaucrat and author.