“Multi-millionaire Palm Jumeirah resident calls $1 million win ‘best birthday gift ever’”
Bollywood Producer Rajan Lall Wins $1 Million Dubai Duty Free Raffle Days After Turning 79
Dubai: Bollywood producer and Dubai-based multi-millionaire Rajan Lall, who has survived cancer, four heart attacks, and his share of Bollywood chaos, has hit the jackpot in the Dubai Duty Free (DDF) raffle — just six days after celebrating his 79th birthday.
“This is the best 79th birthday gift ever by Sai Baba,” Lall.
He won $1 million in Millennium Millionaire Series 535 with ticket number 3099, which he purchased at Concourse D on January 30. Another winner, Oliver, an Austrian based in Portugal, won $1 million in Series 534 with ticket number 4393, but DDF said he was not reachable. The winners were announced during DDF’s Chinese New Year celebrations marking the “Year of the Fire Horse.”
A lifelong lottery player
Lall, who lives in a sea-facing mansion on Palm Jumeirah, has been buying DDF lottery tickets for 25 years. “Every year, I buy just one ticket. I never won anything! I was even complaining to my friend about it. The winning ticket was bought during my trip to Mumbai last month. When I got the call, I was in Saudi! It feels surreal,” he said.
Asked if the rich should really get richer, Lall replied with characteristic humor:
“Darling, when was life ever fair! … But what makes you think I don’t need the money?” He has yet to decide how he will spend the windfall but is looking forward to the India vs Pakistan cricket clash on Sunday.
A life of resilience
Lall’s journey has been anything but ordinary. In an earlier interview, he said:
“I’ve faced death more than once — but I never let it break my spirit. When you’re lying in ICU with pipes in you, you realise all your money and property have no meaning. Today, I don’t take stress. Ninety percent of people die because of stress.”
He moved to Dubai in his fifties after income tax raids and extortion calls from Mumbai’s underworld in the 1990s. Starting with Dh70,000 borrowed from Salim Khan, he began selling hangers to garment exporters. “It gave me the capital I needed to expand. Slowly, things started to take off. I always felt an instant connection to Dubai. It felt like the right place to begin again,” he said.
Bollywood and business flair
Lall’s instinct for marketing brought him into the film world. He dubbed the 1989 Tamil film Apoorva Sagodharargal into Hindi despite having no experience, a gamble that earned him the nickname “Dubbing King of India.” His one-rupee signing fee stunt and extravagant premieres, such as for Appu Raja, became legendary.
“I’m basically a marketing man. I can sell coal to Newcastle,” he laughed.
Reflections and regrets
Despite his professional success, Lall is candid about personal regrets:
“My main regret is my children and family. I missed my children’s childhood. I wasn’t there for them. The problem was ego — I kept finding excuses to move on to the next one. Lack of communication destroys marriages.”
Even after betrayals, he keeps his circle wide:
“I am friendly even with those who stabbed me in the back. I call them. Keep your enemies close.”
A fitting footnote
Six days after turning 79, the $1 million jackpot feels like a surreal yet fitting chapter in a life marked by resilience, bold gambles, and reinvention.
