’For everyone’s happiness, I moved out of Popley Eternal’

Varuna D Jani talks about her Popley lineage and the ego hassles she faced from her own family

Varuna D Jani talks about her Popley lineage and the ego hassles she faced from her own family

SMART and candid, well-heeled and caught in societal whirlpool, teary-eyed yet strong, hurt by family but ready to forgive. 40-plus Varuna D Jani, daughter of Ramchand Popley, still wants to prove herself. She recently broke away from her father and younger brother Suraj, of Popley Eternal, to create her own jewellery brand. The reason: "ego hassles".

Here's how it all started: Three years ago, Ramchand Popley underwent a bypass surgery. With a desire to help out younger brother Suraj, Varuna flew down from Dubai to be with her maternal family in Mumbai. "I thought my father needed me," says Varuna, who started helping with the family business, at that time known only as Popley Gold Plaza.

"I wanted to take our business to what my father dreamt of. The word 'gold' was being misinterpreted and the word 'plaza' meant a shopping mall, when our main business was diamonds. Since we needed a separate identity for diamonds, I started working towards re-branding it. We decided to name the diamond section Varuna D Jani's Popley Eternal," says Varuna.

Until then, Senior Popley didn't believe in advertisement. "Dad felt it was a total waste of money. But we got ourselves a media consultant and I started attending Page 3 parties. Since the brand carried my name, some people started spreading malicious stories that I came here with a plan in my mind. These stories reached my father and brother. And it led to an ego hassle," says a distraught Varuna, as she blinks back tears.

But her voice gives in when she says, "That's something I can't take. I don't mind if I am not appreciated, but this is betrayal. It came to a point where for the happiness of everyone, I had to move out of Popley Eternal."

On her own

Instead of going back to Dubai and her husband Deepak, a businessman there, and her three daughters, Varuna stayed back to start her own store called Varuna D Jani, which now offers diamond jewellery starting from Rs 50,000 onwards.

"I couldn't go back to Dubai. For three years, ever since I have been away from my family, my children have learnt to live without me. Besides, I have put everything at stake for this venture. It's one of the most difficult decisions for me. Even if I fail, at least I would have tried. I won't die a loser," she says softly.

When asked if she was indeed competing with her father, she says, "No, I am not. I am competing with myself... to prove my own identity. I admit that I have difficulties and temptations to go back, but that would be wrong. Sometimes you don't take the easy way out. You take the right way out." Ask her about her ties with her brother and she says, "It's amicable. We don't go out of our way to meet each other. But there is no hatred."

Past present

Talking about her past, Varuna says she got engaged to Deepak when she was in 11th grade. "I come from a conservative family where women are supposed to take care of the family, and the husband takes care of the business. Of course, times have changed now. It wasn't so earlier."

She candidly talks about the time when she was under pressure from everyone to have a third child, a boy, to carry forward the generation. "Deepak is the only son of his parents. Societal pressures made me believe that I should have a baby boy. Ironically and accidentally, I became pregnant. I started believing that this time it will be a boy. So much so that after I delivered, the doctors were scared to tell me the sex of the child for about 10 minutes. I am a strong believer and I blamed God for everything."

However, two years later in 1999, Varuna started a catering company and a restaurant "with the support of my husband". Her business kept her so busy that she started missing out on family time. Then, one evening, with a full-house restaurant, her cooks threatened to go on a strike if their demands were not met with. Instead of caving into their demands, Varuna went out into the restaurant and requested all the guests to leave. She shut down the restaurant forever.

"I incurred heavy losses and I was shaking and in tears when I called up Deepak, who has always stood by me," says Varuna. The catering business still survives. It's now run by my manager on lease."

Getting down to business

Another tough decision for her was go in for an image makeover when she came to Mumbai. "I lost 18 kilos! Chhaya Momaya became my image consultant and I realised that I needed to look luxurious to sell luxury," she says, with a laugh. But adds that hers is affordable luxury, which starts from Rs 50,000 onwards.

"I want to make a mark on the international market. Why do you think a global traveller prefers Tiffany's or Cartier? There is nothing great about those brands, except the finish. Here, we try to do too many things in one piece of jewellery. Our karigars can come up with better innovations, but we lack the finishing and the knowledge about marketing it. I plan to change that."

Suraj Popley says
When we got in touch with Popley Eternal to find out their side of the story over the ego hassle, Suraj Popley brushed it off, saying, "Nothing of that sort. In fact, Varuna had ambitions for herself, so she went ahead with her plans. She has my full support. It's in good faith. After all, she is my real sister."

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