What’s common between Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty, Vidya Balan, Bhumi Pednekar, Tara Sutaria and Arjun Kapoor? They all swear by Jhama Sweets’ slightly spongy, melt-in-the-mouth hot gulab jamun. Now 77 years old with 11 branches across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Jhama Sweets began as a tiny 2 ft x 4 ft roadside stall where a young Jhamamal Lulla sold just two mithais — a fudgy, slightly crunchy Sindhi delicacy called sev barfi and their signature gulab jamun. Those two sweets continue to draw crowds from across the city. “Like most refugees, we came from Sindh and were moved to a camp in Chembur. My father was in his 20s, married, with a child in tow,” recalled Vinod (Vicky) Lulla, 56, who now runs the business with his elder brother Govind, 77. Back in Sindh, Jhamamal had worked at his maternal uncle’s sweet shop, doing everything from making mithais from scratch to selling them. In Mumbai, with a family to feed, he leaned on what he knew best — creating sweets. “He would wake up at dawn and begin making sev barfi and gulab jamun. He did everything himself, from preparing the mawa and roasting it to the right colour and texture, to making the sugar syrup,” said Vinod. Sharp at 7 a.m., Jhamamal would open his stall and sell until the stock ran out. His mithais quickly earned him a reputation. A few years later, when the government allotted refugees small plots for shops, he was able to buy an adjoining one. Through the 1950s and 60s, he gradually expanded into a 2,000 sq ft space. “Once we moved into a permanent shop, he brought in relatives to help and began adding more mithais. He also created a savoury section with samosas, pattice, dahi bhalla, and our very popular dal pakwan, a Sindhi delicacy served until a few years ago,” Vinod said. His earliest memories include boarding a bus from home in Chembur to visit the store, asking his father for money to buy Diwali crackers. After Jhamamal passed away in 1985, Vinod, still in school, began spending a couple of hours daily at the shop before formally joining full-time in 1991. Soon after, the brothers standardised recipes and began expanding beyond Chembur to Nerul, Kharghar, Vashi, Sion, Ghatkopar and Thane. “Until then, everything was made for one shop. My father would personally oversee the production and knew measurements by hand. But when we decided to open multiple branches, we had to standardise recipes and set up a central kitchen to ensure consistency,” Vinod explained. When we visited Jhama Sweets a day before Dussehra, the snacks section had been shut and chaat scaled down so the team could focus entirely on mithais. “Festivals are very hectic. Everyone wants mithai, so we put all our resources there,” Vinod said. Diwali is their busiest season, when sales of kaju katli surpass even sev barfi and gulab jamun. “It goes in tonnes,” he smiled, adding that Ganpati has also become a major occasion. “Earlier, Ganpati was celebrated mostly in pandals, with little to no mithai exchange. Now that everyone brings bappa home, they need mithai for puja, prasad, and for gifting visitors.” In the last decade, the third generation has stepped in. Govind’s son Ravi manages the Ghatkopar outpost, while Vinod’s son Rishay has launched e-commerce. “You can now order directly from our website. Since our mithais are made from milk, their shelf life is two days — three for kaju katli. But with MAP (modified atmospheric pressure) packaging, we can extend it by a week without preservatives,” Vinod noted. So why do so many celebrities swear by them? “In the early days, many actors lived in Chembur, which was also home to film studios like Raj Kapoor’s RK Studio. They would order from us for Diwali and Holi parties. Actors shooting at Basant Studios, like Amitabh Bachchan, often stopped by to pick up sweets. That’s probably how we became popular among them,” he said. And what makes their gulab jamun so beloved? “Unlike most, we use very little maida, say less than 10 percent, and a high proportion of mawa, about 70–80 percent. Plus, we never compromise on quality,” he explained. Today, Jhama Sweets offers over 200 varieties of mithai. Yet their bestsellers remain unchanged. “We sell 5,000–7,000 gulab jamuns and 80–100 kg of sev barfi daily,” Vinod shared. “We have a wide range, but just like in my father’s time, I see most people sticking to 10–15 classic mithais. The trend of smaller menus is back, isn’t it?”
