Grew up on a Jawa: Shahrukh Khan gets nostalgic with Anand Mahindra

The Jawa and Yezdi range of two stroke motorcycles have a huge fan following in India. And Bollywood movie star Shahrukh Khan is one of them. Tweeting just after the relaunch of the Jawa brand in India, Shahrukh Khan got all nostalgic and had this to say to Anand Mahindra.

Oh nice. Grew up on this! https://t.co/sugLJNAQPx

— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) November 15, 2018

It’s not just Shahrukh Khan who’s a fan of Jawa. Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra, and the man who’s involved in bringing back the Jawa brand to India along with Boman Irani and Anupam Thareja, has also been a Jawa fan since childhood.

In fact. Mr. Mahindra shared an anecdote at the launch of the Jawa trio yesterday. Mr. Mahindra said that he studied at the Lovedale School in Ooty, which also had one Ms. Morvariz Irani, one of the Irani brothers’ daughter, as its student. The Irani brothers were the ones who brought the Jawa into India. Mr. Mahindra noted that if anyone wanted a visit to the Ideal Jawa (as it was called then) factory in Mysuru, Karnataka, Ms. Irani was the go-to girl for that.

Coming back to the motorcycles themselves, Anand Mahindra has now teamed up with Anupam Thareja, a former investment banker, and Boman Irani, of the Irani family who own the Jawa brand in India, to set up Classic Legends Pvt Limited. The Jawa brand has been resurrected through this company. Mahindra Two Wheelers’ factory in Pithampur will built the new, Jawa range of four stroke motorcycles under a contract manufacturing agreement. In fact, the engines that the three new Jawas use are derived from the Mahindra Mojo’s 295cc single.

Three Jawa motorcycles were launched yesterday – the Jawa, the 42 and the Perak. The Jawa and 42 motorcycles use a 293cc, four stroke engine with twin barrel exhausts and 27 Bhp-28 Nm outputs. The Perak is a bobber that will be introduced later, and features a 334cc, single cylinder engine with 30 Bhp-31 Nm outputs. All three motorcycles get six speed manual gearboxes. While the Jawa and 42 are priced at Rs. 1.55 lakhs and 1.64 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi, the Perak sits at the top of the range, at Rs. 1.89 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.

All three motorcycles have distinct retro designs, and are squarely aimed at Royal Enfield’s retro-motorcycle line up. Jawa has already set up 64 dealerships across India, and 105 dealerships will be functional soon. Bookings of the motorcycles have already begun. While test rides will start early next year, the actual customer deliveries are expected to begin from early next year.