Harinder Singh’s Patakha Guddi tees and jholas are selling like hot cakes among young girls. He says that it is the latest quirky term from Bollywood. By Divya Kaushik
Soon after he finished shooting Rockstar, Imtiaz Ali visited a shop at Janpath and surprised its owner by telling him that for his film, since some part of it is based in Delhi, he has taken ideas from his store. He was impressed by cool tees, scarves and other products with Punjabi script scribbled on them. That was the beginning of the “bond” between Harinder Singh, the owner of 1469 Phulkari, and Imtiaz Ali. Harinder, who started the shop to promote culture of Punjab, has come up with the merchandise for Imtiaz’ forthcoming film Highway. Tees and scarves with quirky prints are already selling like hot cakes. Patakha Guddi tees are the bestsellers and Harinder says that the term has picked with the college kids big time. “Jholas are in big demand and since Patakha Guddi is a cool coinage, it has become an instant hit with students. We are expecting that the sale would almost double up after the release of the film,” said Harinder, who thinks that Patakha Guddi, like some other popular Bollywood names and dialogues like Basanti and Mere Paas Maa Hai, will always be in fashion. “Since Patakha Guddi defines the modern women very well I hope that sale of the merchandise will pick up during elections as well,” added Harinder.
While Patakha Guddi tees are available at the price of `569, scarves are priced at `269. Headgears and jholas too are in great demand, especially online. “Most merchandise is being picked up from our stores in Delhi and Chandigarh. Online these tees, scarves and jholas are already very popular and we have mostly women buying them from towns like Gwalior, Amritsar and other tier II cities. We also have Suha Suha tees that are a hit online,” said Harinder, who did not have any kind of request from the director to design the merchandise.
“It was only for my respect and the relationship that I have had with him that I decided to design these tees. Since Punjab is an important theme in most Bollywood films, we keep getting such requests but we only like to associate with a few people. Imtiaz is special and he understands the kind of work we do. He likes things that promote art and culture in an interesting way. He likes scanning old markets in Delhi and while strolling on Janpath and looking for some cool ideas for his film he spotted our Janpath shop,” said Harinder.
The owner says the reason he named his shop 1469 is because the year is known to be the birth year of Guru Nanak. Since it is an established brand, does he plan to open more storesIJ “Online is a big business and that is the platform we are looking at. Movie merchandise sale is always better online as people from small towns are getting more aware and are interested in buying quirky stuff,” said Harinder.
photos Pankaj Kumar