Whenever we saw an MDH masala Ad on the television, we already knew that it would end with the brand’s tagline ‘asli masale sach sach’ and a big smile from its owner-Mahashay Dharampal Gulati.

On Thursday, Mahashay Dharampal Gulati, the owner of MDH (Mahashay Di Hatti) passed away at the age of 97 due to a cardiac arrest. As the MDH owner, he was presented in a number of television and print commercials for the brand in one of the most popular segments of TV and print Ads.  The advertisement jingle and cameo appearances by Gulati had made the MDH one of the most known brands in India.

Born on March 27, 1923 in Sialkot, now in Pakistan, Gulati dropped out of school in class 5. In 1937, he had set up a small business of mirrors, soaps, and carpentry with his father’s help. The business further expanded with him selling cloth and hardware. He also began to sell rice. Facing some troubles in expansion and diversification, he combined the businesses with his family business of making spices under the name called “Deggi Mirch wale”. His father had established a shop in Sialkot, under the name of Mahashia di hatti, which was primarily a spice shop.

Gulati  decided to grow his family business of spices, when he had to sell off his carriage on October 10, 1948, just a little more than a year after having arrived in India after the partition. He had opened a small shop in the Ajmal Khan road, in Karol Bagh in New Delhi, which was the turning point in his business life.

His business was gradually renamed as MDH. The business venture has grown to become a Rs 1500 crore empire, as of today, which runs the masala company, about 20 schools, and a hospital.

In 2017, Gulati was the highest-paid entrepreneur and CEO at the age of 94. He was also a king of heart as 90% of his salary went to charity. He believed in three basic guiding principles- sincere work, quality of the products, and affordable prices. In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Bhusan, the third-highest civilian award in the country. Gulati also became his company’s biggest brand ambassador and was visually common and known to a vast swathe of the population. During the lockdown, Gulati had provided supplies and PPE kits to Delhi government to help the populace in the unprecedented times, as shown over the Twitter handle of Deputy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia.

Gulati was a dedicated entrepreneur who did not take off even on Sundays. He would make daily rounds of factories, markets and would meet dealers to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He also took our Indian spices to an international level by exporting to different parts of the world including UK, UAE, Europe, Canada, and other countries. Today MDH Masala has offices in Dubai and London and exports its products to more than 100 countries. Gulati’s son manages the overall business now and his 6 daughters handle the distribution region wise.

The author is a student member of Amity centre of Happiness