Fashion empire
It was the summer of 1990 when a young man with no formal training in fashion designing took his first step in the world of glamour by designing costumes for Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla in the David Dhawan-directed film Swarg.
Twenty-seven years later and steering a fashion empire valued at Rs1 billion (Dh56 million), it is perhaps befitting that Manish Malhotra’s life comes full circle with yet another Dhawan film lined up for release, this time with the Gen X star Jaqueline Fernandez wearing his costumes in Judwaa 2.
One would think that Malhotra, who is prepping for yet another a celebrity-led fashion show in Dubai on September 29, would choose this pivotal moment as a turning point in his career to perhaps slow things down and indulge in the fruits of his labour. But he appears to have different plans.
Brand building
Speaking with Gulf News tabloid! ahead of his show, the designer revealed plans of diversifying his brand, while balancing his love for all things Bollywood.
“Even now, people say I am 50 years old and I have had a very fulfilling career and it’s set. Do I really need to push the envelope and open more stores or run around to do so many fashion shows?” he says. “The thing is, I love challenging myself.”
A challenge for some equates to making it to the gym three times a week; for the designer, it is building brand Manish Malhotra.
Aside from opening standalone stores in Dubai and Hyderabad in 2018, Malhotra is also branching out into different mediums, explaining: “I am looking forward to launching a pret label. We are yet thinking of a name [for it]. It is going to be a very young label, at a price point that is reasonable to everybody. I am also looking to open a home line — Manish Malhotra Home — and a make-up line.
“It is all additional work, 24 hours of work, stress, thinking... But I enjoy it. I have shows lined up now from Hong Kong, Dubai, Kolkata, Mumbai.”
Despite working what he calls 28-hour days, Malhotra is still unwilling to step away from his first love — Bollywood. Following Judwaa 2, the designer will soon start work on three films produced by his best friend, Karan Johar.
Could one of them be the period film that reportedly stars Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Sridevi, Sonakshi Sinha and Aditya Roy Kapur?
Quiz Malhotra and he laughs, saying: “I get calls from Karan all the time saying ‘I haven’t made any announcement of my film but you clearly have’”.
For the love of Bollywood
Malhotra’s meteoric rise is a textbook rags-to-riches tale. During those struggling early years in Bollywood, his path crossed with Sridevi in 1993 during the making of Mahesh Bhatt’s Gumrah. The actress was at the top of her game, and for a budding designer, this was the opportunity that would serve well at gaining a firm foothold in the film industry.
“I think every generation has had people who thought beyond. In the ‘90s, when I started my work, I thought beyond,” he reminisces.
“[At the time] there was no Lycra fabric available in India. One day, I told Sridevi, why don’t you wear a Lycra top as a sari blouse? She agreed and I picked up an actual dress, cut it up and turned it into a blouse. Suddenly, we had a new trend.”
However, it would be another two years before Malhotra would really come into his own. While the designer gained recognition for his ensembles that Kajol wore in 1995’s Dilwale Dulaniya Le Jayenge, it was that same year that Urmila Matondkar transformed into her brazen avatar courtesy of Malhotra and a Ram Gopal Verma film titled Rangeela.
Such was the impact of this classic that Filmfare Awards instituted a special trophy for Best Costume Design in a Film, which Malhotra took home with pride. Since then, it has been no looking back for the designer, be it Karisma Kapoor’s makeover in Raja Hindustani (1996) or Kareena Kapoor Khan’s glamorous turn as Pooja in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001); Malhotra’s name has been synonymous with celebrities across generations, including the millennial poster child, Alia Bhatt.
Malhotra continues: “At the start of each year I think, there is so much of business in fashion, I will not do a film, but I always end up doing three to four films. When people see me, I think what they remember is all what I have single-handedly done in movies. And today, I embrace it.”
Showstopping fashion
An independent fashion line seemed like a natural progression for Malhotra in the late ‘90s and the ambitious designer was not one to shy away from grabbing at opportunity.
“My first fashion show was in 1999 called Reverie organised by [industrialist] Yash and Avantika Birla in Mumbai. It was the first time the iconic Taj Hotel was allowing such a show to happen on its grounds,” he says.
“You know that I started this whole thing of showstoppers and front row in India? And now I am stamped with.”
He continues: “For me, [getting a showstopper] was never about getting the eyeballs. Back then, I had just done Rangeela with Urmila [Matondkar] and I told her it’s my first show and I want you to be there and walk.
“And of course, a lot of the actors who I had worked with in movies attended as well. It just so happened for me, but now it has become a profession; a lot of actors are now paid to walk. There have been times when I have felt, do I have to do it [have showstoppers]? Do I want to? Because the clothes are also speaking so much. Is it taking away from the craft?”
The self-reflection is fleeting as Malhotra is quick to reply: “I think that after having that battle in my own head, I have given into the fact that movies is how people see me. And the truth is that I have designed costumes for 27 years. [In comparison], my mainstream label is just 12 years old.
“These are 27 years of successful films, big actors and lots of firsts in terms of style, design and narrative. And till date, I continue to do this. I was once designing for Sridevi and now I am designing for her daughter [Jhanvi Kapoor] for her first film, who is all of 19.”
Critical calling
Despite the success story that Malhotra has sketched for himself, critics have been equally busy sharpening their pens, labelling him a ‘mere costume designer’ who just stumbled into fashion.
In a telling moment, Malhotra opens up to say: “I do feel that the fashion fraternity, the critique has never been on my side. Because it was the first time that a costume designer was coming into mainstream. But I think over time, it evolved. The professionalism, the way my stores grew and the love of the people brought about the transformation.”
Surely it helps that a Kareena Kapoor Khan is walking down the ramp, dressed in a Manish Malhotra lehenga (skirt). The designer is of a different idea, saying: “I think it is underestimating people to say that they will only buy a garment just because an actor has worn it.
“Today, the person knows what they are buying. And I think that becoming a [Rs1 billion] company and having stores has also changed that perception. People don’t just see me as a costume designer.
“Recently, a young bride who was around 21 years old said to me, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you make clothes for movies. I thought you make clothes, which are used in movies because you are a brand’. There is a younger generation that is looking at me for my fashion week, the shoots that I do or the styling that I do for the red carpet: they don’t know me for Rangeela.”
Malhotra says that acceptance of his craft “just naturally happened”, adding: “Karan Johar always teases me that you live in la la land. Everything is just about your work. Truth be, I don’t blame the critique. It would bother me for maybe a day and then I would get up the next day and work harder. Today, I don’t feel that pressure. My name is synonymous with Bollywood and I accept that.”
Dubai Fashion Show
The Manish Malhotra invite-only fashion show was held on September 29 at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, followed by the two-day Design One trunk show starting the following day.
Speaking about the collections he is bringing to Dubai, which will be an amalgamation of his Sensual Affair collection at India Couture Week and Tales of Indulgence from Lakme India Week, Malhotra says: “For us traditionally, fashion shows have always been about traditional embroidery, lots of bridal looks.
"But I think the bride today is changing. She is someone who doesn’t fear glamour, someone who isn’t influenced. She wants to be sensuous, she is sure of herself. That’s what the show was all about.”
