Because we are different.

Signed, sealed & delivered

10 November 2012

Kunal Kumar Mundhra speaks to sudipta chanda about his dazzling collection of autographs

Initial days…
I am 21 years old and I started collecting autograph in 2006. My maternal uncle SK Lahoti has a great collection of autographs, which are mostly of authors. Then I met Praful Thakkar, one of my uncle’s friends. He inspired me because he is a collector of autographs of actors, sportsmen and politicians. He even had an entry in the Limca Book of Records.

USP of the collection…
It is my hobby and profession. Autographs of personalities with international standing fetch high prices. It also makes for a good gift.

Step by step…
I first collected postal addresses of celebrities and then sent them mails requesting for autographed photographs. It takes time. I started my collection with an autograph of Kapil Dev. Dilip Kumar sent me his autograph after several requests. I got Shah Rukh Khan’s autograph after asking him 15 times.

Achievements…
I like to collect autographs of Bollywood stars and heads of states. I have collected 1,000 autographs. The list of Bollywood stars includes Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Hema Malini, Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukherjee and Priyanka Chopra. Film directors include BR Chopra, Yash Chopra and JP Dutta. The list of industrialists include Ratan Tata, BK Birla and Rahul Bajaj. From Bengal we have Sandhya Mukherjee, Sabitri Chatterjee, Ganesh Pyne, PC Sorcar, Sunil Ganguly…

International stars…
I love going through this segment which features autographs of Pele, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Chan, Julia Roberts, Bill Gates, Phil Collins, Messi, Kalpana Chawla, Edmund Hillary and many others.

Collector’s delight…
I have spent huge sums to collect a few autographs…

Next up…
My brothers ~ Tushar, Chintu, Jitu and Chandu ~ have shown keen interest in my collection. I plan to come up with a museum dedicated to autographs. We already have an organization called The Collectors’ Club.