Brothers with charm … how two savvy businessmen became celebrities in Melbourne

The Khakh brothers are emerging as a young and powerful duo within Melbourne’s booming Indian ­diaspora.

Arsh Khakh with a golden copy of an AK-47.

Arshdeep Khakh is the flamboyant brother. Lovedeep Khakh is the serious brother.

Arsh has a reputation as a bit of a showman, and enjoyed posing with an oversized golden copy of an AK-47 a few years back.

Love is considered more ­business-minded, and was happy to spend a Sunday night last month at a private $1000-a-head Labor fundraising dinner with federal Immigration Minister ­Andrew Giles and Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio.

The Khakh brothers – Arsh is 32 and Love is 36 – are emerging as a young and powerful duo within Melbourne’s booming Indian ­diaspora. As their businesses and celebrity grows, so does their ­influence among Indian Aus­tralians, multiple figures in the ­Indian community say.

“They are very smart business operators, they are sharp. Love, in particular, is very smart and very respectful,” said one Indian Australian who has observed them closely. “Arsh and Love have made a lot of wealth in a very short period of time.”

Khakh Productions is the biggest promoter in Melbourne of kabaddi, an ancient Indian contact game played between two teams of seven players but without a ball. Points are won by players running into the opposition’s half.

Regular kabaddi tournaments have fuelled the brother’s celebrity among Indian Australians. Each year, Khakh Productions flies dozens of Indians and other foreigners to Australia to compete in kabaddi.

Expensive cars, Range Rovers and Mustangs, are raffle prizes. A crowd of 3000 can pack a suburban oval for one of their kabaddi clashes. Tickets cost about $25.

While kabaddi has been the Khakh brothers’ main game, they have also run a side-hustle car-hire and smash-repair business, Danka’s Body Repairs in Mason St, Campbellfield, in Melbourne’s outer-northern suburbs. Danka’s has sponsored some of their ­kabaddi tournaments.

Luckee Kohli with Cath Andrews and his wife, Sanjoo.

People are drawn to the Khakh brothers. They possess a gravity that pulls all types into their orbit. There’s Luckee Kohli, the Mulgrave bottle shop owner and importer of fine single-malt whisky, who has helped the brothers spruik kabaddi.

Kohli and his wife, Sanjoo, as it happens, count Premier Daniel Andrews and his wife, Cath, as close friends. The Andrewses live around the corner from the Kohlis’ bottle-o, and the families have grown close during the eight years of the Labor government.

Jamal Mohammad is another character drawn to the Khakh brothers. The ostentatious former owner of the Waterfront restaurant in Port Melbourne has also been close to Kohli. Mohammad refers to Kohli as a “brother in arms” in multiple photos on Facebook and lauds him and his wife as “Magic & spell amazing” and “Wonder full friends with great memories”.

But there is one more cryptic caption on a 2019 photo of Kohli in which Mohammad writes “some time you keep your enemies close to you”.

This week, Mohammad told The Weekend Australian he had “disconnected” from Kohli since he left the restaurant business.

But he did recall how Kohli would boast about his friendship with the Premier. “He used to go around telling people he was a friend of Mr Andrews,” Mohammad said.

Kohli was approached for comment but did not respond. He is very familiar with Mohammad’s Waterfront restaurant. It’s where he and Sanjoo chose to host an ­Indian community “women’s dinner” in November 2018, under the banner of the couple’s advocacy group, Australian India Strategy Group. Cath Andrews was the guest speaker.

Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles with Lovedeep Khakh at a Labor fundraiser.

As revealed by his Facebook page, Mohammad, who says he stopped running the Waterfront three years ago and is now in the fashion business, surrounds himself with extravagant symbols of wealth, such as golden bottles of Moet and golden furniture. Arsh Khakh was photographed with the golden AK-47 outside his restaurant. Arsh Khakh did not respond to messages from The Weekend Australian.

In 2019, Mohammad sat alongside Kohli and the Khakh brothers at the Waterfront to promote a “world cup” kabaddi tournament. At the time, Mohammad paid tribute to the entrepreneurial brothers on Facebook. “2019 World Cup kabaddi. With glamour and style. with Love Khakh,” Khan posted. In other posts, he also described the Khakhs as “brothers in arms” and declared that kabaddi was “the game of the future”.

In other posts, Mohammad referred to the Khakh brothers with statements such as “Wisdom and beauty, can create a new world” and “opening night for unlimited success” and the “future is amazing”. And in another very Melbourne twist, Mohammad has confirmed that underworld identity Mick Gatto was a regular customer of his at the Waterfront. “Mr Gatto was a very good regular customer,” he said.

Another important figure in the Khakhs’ network is migration agent Harjeet Chahal, who ­attended the October 2 Labor fundraiser at which the federal ­Immigration Minister was the star tin rattler. The Khakhs and Chahal are friends and business associates. Chahal’s migration agency, Aussizz Thomastown, organises the Australian visas for the foreign kabaddi players brought into the country by Khakh Productions.

In October, Chahal posted on Facebook an image of himself standing proudly with the latest batch of players: “So overwhelmed with a visit of ‘Pakistan Kabaddi Players’ at Aussizz Group office; thanks to KHAKH Production to give us an opportunity to be a part of 2nd Aus Kabaddi World Cup 2022. Really appreciate your ­efforts towards community events Love Khakh Arsh Khakh Pinda Khehra!”

The VIP access to federal and state ministers at the October 2 election fundraiser is a long way from Punjab, where the Khakh brothers were born and grew up.

A 2020 feature story by website gdayindia.com.au details the brothers’ journey from Punjab to Melbourne. The report says Love Khakh was a “regular guy”, born to a farming family and studying physiotherapy at Khalsa College, Amritsar, when his uncle in Australia suggested he move here.

Last month’s kabaddi tournament in Melbourne.

“I followed his advice, came here and, later, asked my brother to join me. It was a good decision,” Love Khakh told gdayindia.com.au. He arrived in Australia in 2006, according to the report, and enrolled in a horticulture course before becoming interested in automotive engineering and business. In 2008, Arsh Khakh joined his brother in Melbourne. “He guided me so I did the same automotive course and we opened a car workshop here,” Arsh Khakh told the website.

Love Khakh said: “After my brother came to Australia, it gave me more energy to realise my ­ambitions.”

The brothers were on their way and their car-rental business started specialising in luxury brands such as Range Rovers, Jaguars, Mercedes, Audis, BMWs and Bentleys, the website reported.

The kabaddi tournaments, Love Khakh told the website, ­defied expectations to become successful. “Some people said we couldn’t pull it off without sponsorships or financial support. We proved them wrong and did everything on our own,” he said. “People loved it and it feels good to know that we achieved what we always wanted to do – getting youngsters involved in sports, promoting culture and providing entertainment to the community.”

The Khakh brothers told the website their success should be an inspiration to young Indians building a life in Australia. “No job is a small job in the beginning, if you go through that hard part and complete your studies and work and study from your heart, everyone will appreciate that and you will grow personally and professionally. The most important thing is you learn, even from a small job,” Love Khakh said.

Arsh agreed with his brother. “We were together and that made us stronger and handle problems better. The struggle was there but we didn’t take it as struggle, it was a part of growing so we had the attitude we had to do it. The hard work paid off, we are satisfied now.”

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