Celluloid Dreams

Aki Narula and Manish Malhotra might be Bollywood staples,but a handful of young turks are making their foray into films. Unlike the previous generation,who entered films at a later stage in their careers,the current names have barely spent two years in the fashion industry. Designer Swapnil Shinde was working as a stylist with MTV after his fashion designing course in Milan,when stylist Rita Dhody asked him to help with the costumes of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion.When the offer to style for Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s 99 came up,he went ahead full throttle. “It was an overwhelming experience and quite crazy. I was quite taken aback by the star tantrums. Mahesh Manjrekar was quite a handful,but in the end,I did learn how to get it across that I was the designer,” he laughs. His next project Fired,with actor Rahul Bose and British model Militza Radmilovic ,has been smooth sailing so far. “Rahul is fun to work,” he says.

Samant Chauhan has got that bit sorted out. The designer,whose sustained work with indigenous Indian fabrics has created a stir,says he works only with people he knows. Right now,he has taken up Ram Gopal Verma’s Veerappan,a fictional account of the slain forest brigand,because director Prashant Pandey was a batchmate of his at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. So what is it that is getting these designers branch out so early in their career? “When you are young and getting off the block,such opportunities really work well for your business,” says Rawal

Having stars as friends is another incentive. Raakesh Agarvwal,the latest toast of the fashion world,is now fast becoming the go-to person for in Bollywood his glamorous outfits. His designs have featured in movies like Billu and he’s finally ready to take on projects of his own. “I started work around the same time as girls like Deepika (Padukone) and Genelia (D’Souza),so I know them really well,” he says,adding that he has recently taken on two styling projects with “really big production houses but has a contract of secrecy.”

Most of these designers say films will never be allowed to shadow their personal labels. “Doing projects from Delhi is time consuming,and unless it’s something exceptional,I’ll stick to my label,” says Chauhan,while Shinde and the others believe in striking a balance between both. “In the end,your label’s your own baby. That’s where you are at your creative best,” concludes Agarvwal.