The year is 1953. We see Bollywood superstars Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari rehearsing lines for their forthcoming film, Bimal Roy’s Parineeta, in the actor’s posh apartment in Mumbai overlooking the Arabian Sea. The apartment features a Jamini Roy painting, velvet upholstery, and neat rows of collectibles and books. The video, aptly called ‘Dream House’, turns out to be an advertisement for UK-based bedding brand Dunlopillo.
In the days of humble cotton mattresses when Indians use to re-fluff their bedding by adding new cotton to it, Dunlopillo became an aspirational product that only India’s affluent could afford.
The ad was unconventional, too. It was completely shot in English. “You know, after a day of hard work, I need rest and comfort,” Kumar says (or is dubbed saying) in fluent English. He shows the audience his ‘moth-proof’ and ‘latex foam’ bedding. “Like so many others with good taste, Ashok Kumar has furnished his house with Dunlopillo,” says the voiceover in the ad. The advertisement pitches the mattress against popular cotton bedding by calling it a “cool, hygienic, dust and vermin free” option.
The ad was a hit and the product made a quick connect with many affluent Indians. The brand also finds mention in Sumit K. Mazumdar’s book India’s Late, Late Industrial Revolution: Democratizing Entrepreneurship among the typical three things that Indians would bring to Santa Cruz airport when arriving from the Gulf states. They definitely carried a Dunlopillo foam mattress. The other items were stereo radio-cum-recorders and washing machines. “These items were purchased by the passengers for subsequent sale in India since Dunlopillo foam mattresses had very high domestic excise taxes levied on them,” said the book.
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Invention of the mattress
The mattress was the result of an experiment conducted by a Dunlop research scientist, E.A Murphy, who was working in Birmingham in January 1929, according to the archives on the company’s website.
Murphy was experimenting with several techniques to create latex foam but was constantly failing to achieve the right consistency. What worked for him was his wife’s suggestion to use a cake mixer.
He followed the advice and poured liquid latex — a milky fluid found in many plants use to manufacture rubber — along with soap and gelling agents into a cake mixer. He whisked them for fifteen minutes, shifted the mixture into a tray and placed it in a steam oven at 100-degree Celsius.
And that’s how he invented the first latex foam. It was a hit.
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Rise of Dunlop with Dunlopillo
While Dunlop Ltd, the parent company, was established in 1926 and earned a name as the inventor of pneumatic tyres — which were used in all types of public transport, even aircraft — a new division was added in 1929 called Dunlopillo.
The company started producing “latex cushioning for the automotive industry, seating for cinemas and mattresses and pillows for the home, hotels, hospitals, and ships.”
Such was the hype for the product that when latex supplies to the UK were cut off during WWII, the mattresses were being sold to only those who had a medical certificate.
When the Houses of Parliament were rebuilt after the war, it was specified that only Dunlopillo latex be used for upholstery. Dunlopillo became the most successful division of Dunlop Ltd and was acquired in 1985 by BTR plc. — a London-based multinational company. In October 2002, Dunlopillo sold its UK operations to Hilding Anders and became known as Dunlop Latex Foam Ltd.
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The ownership of the company exchanged several hands. In November 2005, Kolkata-based Ruia Group acquired Dunlop India and owned the mattress brand for sale here.
The brand is available in more than 30 countries across the world. The mail sent to Ruia Group did not fetch any response at the time of publishing.
Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari’s vintage ad, however, has remained embedded in India’s consciousness.