By Hemisha Morarji
Art isn’t just for the canvas. Hole-punched shutters, curved walls and buildings that look like hastily-piled books are some of the features aching to be boasted about under Mudhit Gupta’s name. And with one of the most famous father-and-daughter pairs fronting his latest campaign, he has more to feel content about.
The real estate developer, along with the talents of acclaimed architect Sanjay Puri, brought the EMGEE group from being an independent business in Mumbai to a leading international brand.
The company began four decades ago, delivering interior spaces and designs fit for Bollywood royalty. Their deep commitment for perfection can be seen in all of their projects, reflecting Mudhit’s passion for “housing people’s dreams.”
To date, the EMGEE group are now planning luxurious projects in Spain, Eastern Europe and other international territories. The brand’s European operations will be headquartered in London, with representative offices across the continent to market their Indian and global projects, driven by a team of 
enviable talent.
No doubt the latest talent will be just as ripe as Sanjay’s, who’s work for EMGEE has won him a staggering 16 international awards and 54 national awards, including the prestigious Dubai Cityscape Architecture Emerging Markets 2011 Award.
And to further mark the group’s prestige, Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor and his daughter Sonam have been appointed as the new ambassadors of the brand.
Asian World caught up with Mudhit Gupta to discuss family values, being eco-friendly and how to beat a recession…
Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor will be the new faces of your brand. How did the collaboration come about?
Well, we got into contact with Bling, who are a talent management and they gave us three or four choices. Ultimately, we decided that the best sit would be Sonam, for she and her father share our same visions of integrity and evolution. Both of them have evolved over their careers. Anil has gone from being a Bollywood actor to breaking into Hollywood and is set to appear in the new Mission Impossible movie. He also starred in the TV serial, 24.
Sonam is another perfect choice, as she represents the Bollywood industry at the Cannes festival and is also the face of Loreal, who are an organic company. Both Anil and Sonam have both gone international, which reflects our evolution from being a company in Mumbai to an international one.
But most importantly, I chose them because they are very understated. They both share our core family values and a father and daughter relationship is one you cannot break.
Your company is known for being environmentally friendly. How important is it to be Eco-friendly?
It is very important for me, even before I started my career. Our company have always been an eco-friendly since we began. Eventually, we become the pioneers of that in 2005, when we began a Green movement project in Mumbai.
Where do your beliefs about being environmentally friendly come from?
It’s something that comes from the heart. I love trees and nature. Our eco-friendly values aren’t just marketing tools; they are something I have truly believed in since I was 16.
What sort of materials do you use to create these Eco-friendly houses?
We save carbon and recycle water, which of course saves a lot of water. We also use energy saving technologies and Soli energy. You need 95 points to be classified as eco-friendly and we received a platinum certificate, which is the highest you can get.
How did you get acclaimed architect Sanjay Puri involved in the EMGEE group?
Me and Sanjay go a long way. We have been working together for 25 years. My first project involved him and his first project involved me when we met in Mumbai. He was only an architect starting out and I was a developer and after seeing his work, I knew I had to take him on board. Since then, both of our companies have grown. Sanjay is now an acclaimed architect and has won a lot of awards, including three awards at the Cannes in France. He has evolved a lot as an architect.
What is it about Sanjay’s work that you admire the most?
I like the spaces he creates. Apartments normally don’t have a lot of space, but Sanjay makes enough space to make the rooms appear spacious but at the same time, reduces space wastage.
I also like how his elevations keep evolving, producing some of the most stunning buildings and technically, he is so sound. He never repeats his designs, which I feel is important because every building needs to be different. As they say, “nobody’s just a number”, because everyone has their own qualities that make them different to someone else; and that is how Sanjay treats the buildings he works on. Every building he has redesigned has its own character and personality.
Your passion is to create people’s dream houses. Why is it important to realise these people’s dreams?
It is very important. We always try to understand what people want and we do our best with the brief we are given. But we also give our customers the option of having the design they have chosen customized, which is something that many realty companies don’t give. I think this is what makes us niche, as we know that everyone has different tastes and we design houses that comply with the family’s needs.
You have 25 years of experience in the realty business. What are the challenges?
I think the major challenge is handling a recession well. Recessions occur every 5 years and I feel that people who survive the economic downturn and move on will stay forever. In times like that, some companies who cannot handle the recession decide to close and move onto something else. I feel we have successfully faced challenging times like that, which I think have made us stronger. It’s a period we always fight through.
How challenging is a recession and how do you overcome that?
It’s a hard time because there are no buyers and therefore, we get no income. I think we are lucky in having an uncanny knack of predicting recessions because if you are caught unaware in an economic downturn, then you are in big trouble and you can run out of cash very quickly. This is why we always save up for times like that. As the saying goes, “it’s always best to save up for a rainy day.”
What inspired you to create the EMGEE group?
What happened was that I had been working for a while and I decided to come out and create my own brand, with values that I believe in and which reflects me and my personality. The EMGEE group’s foundation is built on the principles of Quality, Luxury, Integrity, Eco-Friendliness and Innovation.
How do you feel about EMGEE being one of the leading realty majors in India?
We are very proud of course. But I think “leading” is very general and a little misleading. I would say we are “leading” in the niche luxury market. I would not put us in the top 10 or 50 or anything, for we never go for size. But what we are most proud of being is being the first company in India to enter the European market. It is a difficult market to break into and one that many Indian companies run away from
What plans do you have for the future?
We plan to do some projects in Montenegro and we have covered some great land in Spain last year. The approval process normally takes about a year, so we’re expected to start work at the end of the year.
We also have a large project planned in Goa, which we are excited about as it is the 3rd most famous location. This area will have the same prestige as Park Lane in London or Park Row in Manhattan. We also felt Goa was the ideal place to feature one of our designs, because there are is pollution, traffic jams, traffic signals and industries there. It embodies everything we are passionate about.
