Captain Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair (9 February 1922 – 17 May 2014) was an Indian businessman who founded

The Leela Group The Leela Group is an Indian business conglomerate founded by Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair in 1981, and named after his wife. The hotel division, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, is its most well known. It describes itself as inv ...

. He was a 2010 recipient of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

, given by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. He was sometimes popularly known as Captain Nair due to his service in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Early life and military career

Nair was born in a village in Kannur district in northern

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

on 9 February 1922. At the time the village was located in the

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

of the Madras Presidency of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. Nair was one of eight children. His father, Appu Nair, worked as a government bill collector earning a monthly income of . During a visit by the Maharaja of Chirakkal to his school, Nair wrote and recited a poem in the Maharaja's honour. The poem impressed the Maharaja and he awarded Nair a lifetime scholarship. During his teenage years Nair met Communist leaders such as P. Krishna Pillai and A.K. Gopalan. Nair joined the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

at the age of 13. He traveled to

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

in 1942 to join the

, and was posted as wireless officer in Abbottabad (in present-day Pakistan). He became an aid of Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose and later came in close contact with leaders of Indian Freedom Movement. He rose to the rank of Captain in the

Maratha Light Infantry The Maratha Light Infantry is a light infantry regiment of the Indian Army. It traces its lineage to the Bombay Sepoys, raised in 1768, making it the most senior light infantry regiment in the Indian Army. The class composition of the regiment ...

Later career

After resigning from the Army in 1951, Nair helped establish the All India Handloom Board. At the board he played a major role in marketing hand-spun Indian yarn in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Through frequent business trips to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and the United States, Nair gained exposure to international hotels such as Adlon Kempinski, Dorchester Savoy, George Shanvk and Waldorf Astoria, which would inspire his own eventual entry into the hospitality industry. In 1958, he joined hands with

Brooks Brothers Brooks Brothers, founded in Manhattan, New York, in 1818, is the oldest apparel brand in continuous operation in America. Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers produces clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings. B ...

to announce Bleeding Madras fabric, which later had clients like

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Liz Claiborne Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Her success was built upon stylish yet affordable apparel for career women featuring colorfully tailored separates that co ...

and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. Later that year, he started a lace-weaving unit in

Sahar Sahar may refer to: People * Sahar (name), Arabic feminine name or Hebrew unisex name * Sahar (singer), Iranian singer, musician and dancer. * Sahar Aslam, former Scottish international cricketer. * Sahar Ansari, Urdu poet and linguist from Karachi ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Leela Hotels

In 1957, Nair was part of a delegation of the All India Handloom Board to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, which involved visits to Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and Hamburg. Following his stay at the Kempinsky Hotel in Budapest, he realized the need for a luxury hotel chain in India that could measure up to international standards. With the Sahar International Airport opening in 1981, Nair realized that there were no good hotels in Andheri, the Mumbai suburb where the airport is located. Nair established Hotel Leelaventure Ltd. in 1983, and began construction of a hotel in Sahar on 4-acre plot of land that he owned, and an additional 6.5 acres that he leased. The first Leela Hotel opened in Mumbai in 1987. This was followed by the Leela Palace in Bangalore, The Leela Goa, and the Leela Beach Resort in Thiruvananthapuram.

Awards

The

American Academy of Hospitality Sciences The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS) is a for-profit business based in New York City that reviews and bestows awards on hotels, resorts, spas, airlines, cruise lines, automobiles, products, restaurants and chefs. The academy began as ...

(AAHS) conferred him a Lifetime Achievement Award and the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

(UNEP) awarded him the

Global 500 Roll of Honour The Global 500 Roll of Honour was an award given from 1987 to 2003 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award recognized the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world. A successor system of UNEP ...

award in 1999. Eventually he was awarded the

, by

in 2010. He was also awarded the "Hotelier of The Century" Award by International Hotels and Restaurant Association, based in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2009. He stepped down as the chairman of Hotel Leela on 7 February 2013 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Vivek Nair.

Death

Krishnan Nair died at 3:30 AM IST on 17 May 2014 at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, following a brief illness.

Personal life

Nair married Leela (after whom he named his hotel group), the daughter of industrialist A. K. Nair, in 1950. They had two sons, Vivek Nair and Dinesh Nair. Vivek is the current chairman and managing director of the Leela Group, while Dinesh is the co-chairman of Leela group. Nair is a relative of V. P. Menon, an Indian civil servant who was the Constitutional Adviser and Political Reforms Commissioner to the last three Viceroys during British rule in India. Leela Krishnan Nair died on 16 May 2021, a day before her husband's seventh death anniversary.

References

External links

C. P. Krishnan Nair, Official webpage
at '' Leela Group of Hotels'' website {{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, C. P. Krishnan Businesspeople from Kannur 1922 births 2014 deaths Malayali people Indian hoteliers Indian businesspeople in textiles Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in trade and industry 20th-century Indian businesspeople Indian Army personnel