208. ANKITA GILL (Param Sara) ~ The Niche Indian Perfume Brand Winning Awards in Year One.
Perfume Room
Emma Vernon
4.9 • 618 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In just one year since launch, Param Sara, a new niche Indian perfume brand on the scene, has already won numerous prestigious accolades. And it all began when Founder Ankita Gill noticed a common theme in perfumery: non-Indian and non-Asian brands were telling Indian and Asian stories.
Determined to reclaim and retell these stories through her own memories and experiences, Ankita pivoted careers, signed up for perfumery school, and just a few years later leads an award-winning perfume brand with fragrances created by some of the world's best (and she calls it, 'culturally-fluid') perfumers.
FOLLOW: @paramsaraofficial
FRAGS MENTIONED:
Param Sara The Mandala, Davidoff Coolwater, JK Helene Curtis Park Avenue, Param Sara: The Kama, The Nirvana, The Bodhi, The Naga, The Nagi
SMELL CLUB, SCENT STYLING & MORE: linktr.ee/emmavern
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the perfume room. Today we are joined by Ankata Gil, who is the founder of one of my new favorite perfume brands, Param Sara. |
| 0:19.2 | Less than a year in, this Indian niche brand has already won numerous prestigious awards, |
| 0:24.5 | including the People's Choice Award at the Art and Alfaction Awards of 2025, |
| 0:28.9 | as well as the Golden Asmantus Award for Best Artistic Fragrance. |
| 0:34.7 | Both big deals, and both coincidentally for the specific scent, the Mandala, which was |
| 0:40.4 | created by IFF perfumer Alex Lee. In humble brag, this also happens to be my personal favorite |
| 0:46.7 | from the line, though I love them all, but if you want to hear my more in-depth thoughts on the |
| 0:51.0 | mandala, I featured it as my scent of the day in episode 195, which |
| 0:55.4 | was my last solo episode. It's magnificent, it's bright and warm, sensual, and tart, |
| 1:02.8 | but creamy all at once, and it spotlights marigold. It was and is an instant favorite. |
| 1:09.5 | In Sanskrit, Paramsara translates to transcending essence. |
| 1:13.9 | And these fragrances are transcending. |
| 1:16.3 | Collections that explore fragrances through lens less considered, |
| 1:20.2 | like, for example, temperature, |
| 1:22.7 | which is the theme of the second collection, |
| 1:25.5 | the two scents, the naga and the naggy, both created by Maxim |
| 1:29.3 | Exler and Veronique Nyberg, take wearers on a journey from hot to cold in the naga, and then from |
| 1:36.0 | cold to hot in the naggy. Ancata comes to fragrance with prior careers in both finance and fashion. |
| 1:43.0 | She refers to fragrance as her third F. And for the |
| 1:46.0 | past decade, she and her husband have called Shanghai Home. Today we discuss everything from |
| 1:51.1 | her upbringing in the modern city of Chundegar to the smells and experiences of the different |
| 1:57.3 | cultures and religions that she's experienced, her life in Shanghai, and most |
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