Malhotra, a self-trained designer, has traversed a long way from modeling for pocket money while studying at Elphinstone College in Mumbai
People of a certain generation remember Urmila Matondkar scorching the screen with her Tanha Tanha act in Rangeela. And within a year there was Karishma Kapoor, who magically transformed from a bushy eye-browed, badly made-up actor to an uber-stylish star. Both, the Marathi mulgi and the Kapoor girl owed their transformation to the magic wand of designer Manish Malhotra.
Malhotra is the first designer who can be credited with introducing two words-- stylist and styling in the Bollywood lexicon — when he stepped in for some course correction for the two stars. But even though 20 years have passed since the release of Rangeela, the designer continues to be right on top in every A-lister’s wardrobe. Even gen-now actors, the likes of Alia Bhatt, and Deepika Padukone walk the red carpet at events in a Malhotra ensemble.
But the appeal of Malhotra’s clothes is not restricted to Indian actors. When international stars such as Demi Moore, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss decided to don an Indian garb, it was in clothes designed by Malhotra. Besides this, he has also designed the team jersey for Shahrukh Khan’s Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders.
Malhotra, a self-trained designer, has traversed a long way from modeling for pocket money while studying at Elphinstone College in Mumbai. During the initial days he also worked part time at a boutique — his initial training ground where he took baby steps in the trade. “I was a sales boy-cum-manager,” he reminisces.
Malhotra was interested in clothes from the very beginning. “Not just how they looked, but how well they were finished,” he says. He often turned around the garment to check that. But then, starting out as a designer in 1990s was not looked upon too favourably. His family felt that he was like a ladies tailor. But he plodded on, determined to give respectability and integrity to it.
His first break came with the David Dhawan movie Swarg in 1990, for which he stylised a song. He worked with Sridevi in a Ram Gopal Verma directed Tamil movie in 1994. The director then roped him in for Rangeela – and there wasn’t any looking back for him thereafter. Soon after Rangeela, the term stylist and styling started being uttered in the same breath as his name.
Malhotra was good at painting and sketching — something that helped him showcase his ideas quickly and vividly. He would sketch while discussing the kind of look a customer wanted and the sketch would be ready even before the conversation ended. This naturally upped his stock amongst a lot of actors, directors and producers.
And it has been a long haul for the self-taught designer. “I worked for 18 hours a day. Even now if I have to sacrifice a dinner, a party, a holiday for work I do it,” says Malhotra. And the lineup of 40 awards in a span of 20 years after 1,000 movies, all bear testimony to the back-breaking work he has put in.
He may be the star Bollywood designer today, but his first break into movies was a tedious process. The producers were not really comfortable to work with a new guy. Their cheques would bounce and the payment system was really odd. “There was no fee — just payment per garment. But I worked relentlessly thinking that I must work with every actor and with every director. It was film after film after film. For the first 10 years I only worked in movies,” remembers Malhotra.
His association with Karan Johar has been a long standing one. Right from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001 to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna in 2006, he has designed — and won awards — for most of Johar’s movies. But from those initial heady days there is one thing about Bollywood that he misses in movies now. “I miss the glamour in movies as everything now is very real. Post Kareena’s Geet in Jab We Met, the small town girl who wears the T-shirt with a salwar is the heroine. She is small town but she smokes, drinks and is not scared to speak her mind. Similarly, the small town boy is the hero,” he says.
His association with Karan Johar has been a long standing one. Right from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001 to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna in 2006, he has designed — and won awards — for most of Johar’s movies. But from those initial heady days there is one thing about Bollywood that he misses in movies now. “I miss the glamour in movies as everything now is very real. Post Kareena’s Geet in Jab We Met, the small town girl who wears the T-shirt with a salwar is the heroine. She is small town but she smokes, drinks and is not scared to speak her mind. Similarly, the small town boy is the hero,” he says.
Ask him if there was any movie that he regrets not doing and pat comes the reply. “I wish I was around in 1960s and 1970s. I love Mumtaz, Hemaji, Rekha and R D Burman. The untouched beauty, the complexion and the make-up — I love it all,” he says. Malhotra’s career is intricately woven with that of the Hindi film industry. And he is extremely proud of the looks that he has stylised — whether it was Rangeela, Raja Hindustani, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai from the initial days, to the more recent Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express or Two States.
But he has decided to step back from Bollywood and focus a little more on his eponymous label, Manish Malhotra. For some time now he has decided to do no more than one or two films in a year. He did Kareena Kapoor’s look for the super-hit Bajrangi Bhaijaan this year. Another change is the concentration on menswear. While Malhotra did design for actors such as Chunky Pandey and Sunny Deol, it was the designs for women that grabbed eyeballs. Naturally Malhotra focused more on it. But with men paying more attention to grooming, Malhotra has upped his game with the launch of a new line called Gentlemen’s Club at the Lakme India Fashion Week in August this year. So to do a collection where men dressed in trench coats, overcoats, bandhgalas and bandi jackets took centre stage was a first for the designer.
But not just menswear, Malhotra has his hands full with plans of overseas expansion. He plans to open stores in Dubai in the first quarter of 2016 (where he earlier had a store which shut down), as well as in London. The stores should be up and running sometime next year.
In addition there are his other stores in Delhi and Mumbai, which need to be regularly stocked up. The one at Ambawatta 1 in Delhi’s Mehrauli area is set in an old haveli which adds a vintage charm to the racks upon racks of beautifully coloured clothes that he is known for. This store opened about two years ago. There are two stores in Mumbai which together spread over 8,500 sq ft and display his couture and diffusion lines.
Malhotra’s brand also retails through multi-brand outlets in Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore as well as Dubai and London. A Manish Malhotra piece starts at about Rs 12,000 and can spiral up to Rs 25 lakh.
Of late, Malhotra has also been trying to incorporate Indian arts in his work. More than three years ago he took up the Mijwan Welfare Society, the NGO founded by Late Kaifi Azmi and headed by Shabana Azmi and Namrata Goyal and has been using the chikankari done by the women associated with MWS. He also works with Kashmiri embroidery.
So, while Malhotra and Bollywood might be inextricably linked, the designer refuses to be pinned down with one label and is constantly looking to expand his frontiers.