On Wednesday, former sheriff of Mumbai in 1998 (then Bombay) and owner and director of Pritam Group of Hotels, S Kulwant Singhji Kohli passed away at Mumbai's Hinduja hospital due to a heart ailment. He was 85 years old. Kohli’s flagship restaurant, Pritam Restaurant and Bar was established in 1942, and soon enough it became popular among families for its food and ambience.

The authentic Punjabi and Mughlai cuisine made it a haunt among many migrants from North India who missed this kind of fare in the city, back in the 1950s and 60s, when such eateries were far and few.
Kohli’s is a typical success story of dreams coming true in the Maximum City. His family originally hailed from Rawalpindi in undivided India. His father had come to Mumbai and soon, Kulwant ended up helping his father in the hotel business. It was called Pritam restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall eatery with seven tables and a cash counter. His father had initially opened a restaurant in Chira Bazaar (Kalbadevi) but that shut down and he lost all his money. So, he came to Dadar, which was largely populated by labour class and bought a shop for Rs 100. However, he had foresight. He hoped to get clients from the film industry, due to neighbourhood studios, and that’s what happened.