Kannauj’s Attar Reinvention

IT’S BARELY 10 A.M. and the historical town of Kannauj along the sandy banks of Ganga is already blazing hot. As we walk along its narrow by-lanes flanked by ancient havelis on either side, the only respite from heat is the divine fragrance of rose petals that engulfs the ancient town known for its perfumery. The fragrance gets intense as we draw closer to the 200-year-old perfume distillery of fifth-generation perfumer Pranjal Kapoor, owner of M.L. Ramnarain Perfumers.

Kannauj’s perfumery dates back to the Vedic era when its aromatic substances were used in religious ceremonies. The legacy also finds a mention in the autobiography of its most popular monarch, Harsh Vardhan, who ruled during the 6th century. However, the story that the over 350 perfumers of the walled town (erstwhile cantonment of Nawab of Lucknow) passionately share is how rose, jasmine and khus attars or itrs (perfume oils) were transported to Agra, the capital city of the Mughals, for Empress Noorjahan. “We continue to follow the age-old process of distillation. We are old, slow and traditional, but those are our strengths,” says Pranjal.

His over two centuries old distillery is hot and smoky. As we navigate through the smoke, we are led into a room with rows of copper cauldrons on earthen ovens. Workers empty sacks of rose petals into water boiling in the cauldrons. As the petals sizzle, the steam passes through a bamboo pipe into another copper cauldron submerged in cold water where it condenses. The liquid is aged for close to a month before being bottled; 40-kg petals produce just three grams rose oil. No wonder pure rose oil costs ₹18-23 lakh per litre, while a litre of pure jasmine oil is priced at ₹15 lakh. A litre of pure khus oil could be ₹18,00-90,000.

“I tried to question what my forefathers did and changed the process. I did get more oil but not that quality,” says Pranjal. Unlike the perfumers of Kannauj, most global fragrance giants, including the famed French ones, use the gas and solvent extraction method. “This can give a good yield (at least 200 litres a day) at an affordable price. Our method is not only time-consuming but also labour-intensive. However, the product is superior. It’s like hand weaving as opposed to machine weaving. The quality of hand weaving will always be unmatched,” says Pranav Kapoor, director, PKAPO Opulence.

Pranav, an eighth-generation perfumer, along with Pranjal and Divy Gupta, founder, Raahi Perfumes, are on a mission to make the ancient town the ultimate global perfumery destination. Their families have been exporting fragrances to top conglomerates across the world, which take their formulations and either use them straight away in a perfume or as an ingredient in a fragrance. However, building the Kannauj brand was never a priority.

Now, these new-generation perfumers are working overtime to create long-term value and build brands from Kannauj using e-commerce and traditional distribution to reach out to connoisseurs across the globe. They are also investing in perfume tourism.

A Scented Tour

Pranav has opened his family haveli to tourists, who are given a complete farm-to-bottle experience, which begins at the 300-acre farm of Divy where his family has been cultivating roses, jasmine and marigold for generations. He charges ₹15,000 per person for a one-night, two-day, experience. The guests immerse themselves in plucking rose or jasmine at the crack of dawn and then visit Pranjal’s distillery to see the distillation process. The tour culminates at Pranav’s perfume bar where they blend fragrances and create their signature scents. There is also a fragrance-led culinary experience curated by Pranav, who is a chef by training. “Formulating a fragrance is similar to creating a recipe. It is all about balancing ingredients,” says Pranav. The chaat lunch that he curates has clove, cumin cardamom, mint and coriander that also go into his perfumes. A rose fragrance with a note of spices is lapped up by connoisseurs, he says.

Divy is in the process of developing his farm into a perfumery destination. “We are looking at setting up uber luxury cottages. We will do something unique.” Both Pranav and Divy also craft personalised scents for royalty as well as the rich and famous. Pranav has created signature scents for luxury hotels such as Roseate, Shiv Niwas Palace and Udaipur City Palace. “I recently created customised scents for designer Rahul Mishra’s show. I have also made scented candles for Tanqueray; I created a scent and infused it into candles.”

Shariq Siddiqui, MD, Absolute Essentials, is also looking at perfume tourism. He has recently renovated his stunning 200-year-old red stone bungalow and is looking at curating experiences for tourists. He says though Kannauj’s perfumes travel across the globe, “it is high time the perfumers and their legacy get their due.”

However, Shariq sees better opportunities in the domestic business-to-business segment rather than exports or building own brand. “Pan masala and agarbatti are big businesses. With beauty, wellness and spa culture becoming a huge trend, domestic demand for essential oils as well as carrier and cold-pressed oils is huge.” Shariq sources herbs such as nagarmotha, sugandhbala, jatamasi and kewra from across the country and makes raw materials for fragrances that go into various FMCG products.

The Kannauj Factor

Out of Kannauj’s 350-odd perfumers, only 20-25 make fine fragrances using traditional distillation. Almost every second shop in this bustling town sells perfumes, but most of them are industrially produced and bought by FMCG and tobacco companies. The traditional steam distilling process is cumbersome and costs four times more. One can get industrially manufactured rose or jasmine attar for as low as ₹30-40 for a 10 ml tube. However, all these attar makers have small consignments of naturally distilled attars tucked away in a corner of their store. As we talk to Ajmal Bari, who is a manager at fragrance store AL-IBAD, he gets a customer who asks him to blend an attar for relief from cold. Ajmal assures it will be ready by evening. He tells us he will probably create a blend using shamama (a concoction of 45 ingredients including flowers, herbs and spices known for therapeutic properties). A 10 ml tube of the blend will be priced at ₹800, says Ajmal.

However, the real romance and luxury of Kannauj fragrances are their absolute oils. And, these are far more premium than most global luxury brands, not just in terms of pricing but also quality of ingredients. A 50 ml bottle of Chanel or Dior costs between ₹8,000 and ₹20,000. In contrast, a 12 ml tube of Ruh Gulab, which is part of Divy’s two-year-old perfume brand, Raahi, costs ₹34,000. Similarly, a 12 ml tube of Raahi’s Ruh Bela costs ₹16,534, while Ruh Rajnigandha is priced ₹11,648.”

Not only are our perfumes distilled using traditional methods, a lot depends on sourcing of ingredients. Most khus (vetiver) fragrances use cultivated khus but the khus we use grows in the wild. Cultivated khus costs ₹18,000-20,000 per kg. Khus sourced from the forest is auctioned and could cost up to ₹90,000,” says Divy.

Almost all global luxury fragrances are alcohol-based and contain 20-25% absolute oils. In fact, there isn’t too much difference between floral fragrances of Chanel, Gucci or Dior. Forest Essentials fragrances such as Gulnar (a blend of roses from Kannauj and carnations) and Mallika (a blend of jasmine, sandalwood and oudh) are far more distinct. “Even at the higher end, most brands use common ingredients and formulations like bergamots (a citrus fruit). We wanted to bring in something that is indigenous and represents India. Making unusual combinations is the game,” says Samarth Bedi, CEO, Forest Essentials.

Crafting A Legacy

The new-age perfumers want to build luxury brands from India’s perfume capital. While Divy’s Raahi Perfumes was launched in 2022, Pranjal gives a taste of Kannauj’s perfume legacy through his e-commerce platform, attarindia.com.

Similarly, Pranav is set to launch his brand PKAPO, which takes inspiration from his culinary journey and fragrance heritage. Among his first launches are Crème Cannabis (a blend of pistachio, cannabis and vetiver); Whiskey & Rose (whiskey, rose and vanilla) and Smells Like S*x (which has notes of dark chocolate, cigar and leather). Priced at ₹4,000 for a 10 ml tube.

These perfumers, in their 30s, want to promote perfume oils and not alcohol-based formulations. “We want to change the perception that oil-based perfumes are not good. Pure attars are good for skin and more long-lasting,” says Divy. There is already a nascent trend of people not wanting to spray alcohol on their skin. “We are on the cusp of perfume oils becoming a large space,” says Vivek Sahni, founder, Kama Ayurveda.

Pranav, Pranjal and Divy’s journey of building own luxury fragrance brand is largely restricted to digital. But do luxury and digital go hand-in-hand, especially in a category like fragrances? Divy says his ultimate goal is to take his brand’s store across the country, but digital has been a great way of building the narrative, he says.

Pranav, on the other hand, is partnering with distributors in Europe. “But you can’t escape e-commerce in India,” he says. An important element of luxury is rarity. He says he will make sure his collection is limited edition even online. “Our fragrances will have 10-15 bottles, so we will manufacture limited edition, and that’s how we will manage the rarity; 30,000 bottles of a fragrance are not luxury,” he says.

As the Kannauj boys craft their brand journey, the made-in-India fragrance market is already on a high. According to Technavio, the Indian perfume market is expected to grow by $1.32 billion at a CAGR of 15.23% between 2022 and 2027. There is, indeed, an enhanced interest with a host of designers and celebrities like Masaba Gupta, Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre and Katrina Kaif launching signature fragrances.

For the perfumers of Kannauj, the opportunity is limitless, from building brands to creating personalised scents as well as being part of perfume marketing narratives.