House of Style

However,Khan was as terrified as she was excited about her first assignment on this medium. “I was getting to be myself on camera,which is liberating,but I was also exposing myself in the process,” she adds. Such doubts were put to rest when she was told that Narula would be partnering with her.

“An expert in all matters style,I realised I only need to build a camaraderie with Aki so that we make a good team,” she says.

For the stylist,this became an opportunity to apply his experience on real people as opposed to the rather body-perfect actors and models. “It was emotional to watch them be defiant,aggressive and eventually more confident after the makeover,” he points out.

The format of What Not To Wear — India,which goes on air starting September 3 — follows the original and requires people to apply for a makeover of a loved one. The 13 selected women participants are secretly tracked with a camera for two weeks in their current style. Subsequently,Khan and Narula expose themselves to them. Following a session of style advice,the participant is sent shopping and her choices are then reviewed. Both Khan and Narula admit that as in the original series,their advice is sometimes caustic and sense of humour,wicked. “It’s always fun when one throws in a bit of cattiness with style advice. But we played the good cop-bad cop game and balanced out each other,” Narula admits.

Khan views this show also as an opportunity to broaden her reach with the audience. However,she denies an attempt to become a more commercially relevant actor with either this show or her next film,Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 2. “One chooses from the roles one is offered,but my choice of films has always depended on whether I can see myself in those roles and if those I love and respect will enjoy that film,” she explains.

With accomplished actors for family members — mother Sharmila Tagore,brother Saif Ali Khan and future sister-in-law Kareena Kapoor — the actor must surely feel the pressure. She laughs at the suggestion,“We don’t view each other as actors when we are together,so there is no pressure. And it’s easy to believe that the world revolves around Hindi films when one lives in Mumbai. So,from time-to-time I just escape the city’s madness and don’t let my profession dominate my life.”