On a quiet afternoon in Belagavi, seven-year-old Vedant carefully buttons a tiny shirt on his doll. He’s just returned from a pretend picnic and is now getting his little companion ready for bedtime. The doll has thick brown-black hair and a soft, round face. Vedant’s mother, Deepa Kurer, found it at The Good Doll, a homegrown initiative that creates fabric dolls rooted in Indian culture, made by women artisans in the Nilgris. “My son loves playing with both toy cars and kitchen sets, and I don’t find anything odd in this,” says Kurer firmly. “I was looking for a doll that boys can play with, because markets are only filled with Barbies.” The Good Doll came to her rescue.
The idea was born in 2017, when Sunita and Suhas Ramegowda left behind their high-rise life in Bengaluru and moved into a modest, century-old home nestled in the Nilgiri hills. In that quietude, what began as an idea for a baby hamper turned into something far more powerful. Sunita stitched together a doll—Indian-looking, rooted in tradition, and free from plastic perfection. That first doll was Nilah, a 10-year-old girl from the Nilgiris, living on a farm with her large family. “For children to engage and create a universe, they need stories, characters; they need to make the doll a real person,” Suhas says. The startup soon embraced minimalism, sustainability, and cultural authenticity.
The dolls wear traditional Indian garments—saris, mundus, cotton dresses with local prints. Their names are as grounded as their design: Nilah, Mira, Raagu, Malai.
What makes The Good Doll more than just a toy brand is its impact on the local community. Women from indigenous villages in the Nilgiris are trained and employed to handcraft these dolls. “Being surrounded by dolls, their workspace is a playfield,” says Suhas. The dolls also draw in unexpected buyers: grown women. “Some women buy Nilah for themselves,” Suhas smiles. “They see her and are engulfed by nostalgia.” Priced between `650 and `1,250, the dolls are available through www.thegooddoll.in.
Next, the couple plans to expand Nilah’s universe through picture books, animations, Amul-style comic strips, and mobile games rooted in regional cultures. Each story arc will see Nilah visiting a new Indian state, dressed in traditional attire and introducing children to diverse lifestyles, foods, and festivals.
“The intent is not to push children back into history,” Suhas clarifies, “but to bring back cultural aspects from the past, give them a fresh, contemporary context, and strengthen today’s culture.” Because Nilah isn’t just a doll.