Absolute Royalty

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You’ve interpreted royalty in a very “wicked” way for your Absolute Royal grand finale line for Lakme. How will that translate on the ramp?

We’re going to talk about somebody who is a modern day royal, not a relic. So we won’t have a Miss Havisham, we’ll have someone who’s a living, breathing individual, who lives in modern society, mixes with cosmopolitan friends, probably is royal by descent, but has an identity that’s very, very cosmopolitan. The clothes are going to have a strong cultural reference from India, from royalty, but they are also going to be modern.

The “red lip” look that Lakme has created for the Absolute Royal line reminded you of women like Dita Von Teese, Madonna, Rekha… previously, you’ve mentioned Maharani Gayatri Devi and Frida Kahlo as having influenced your aesthetic. What do you find striking about them?
All these women, and I must include Amrita Shergill, they have a very strong cultural identity, but they are also their own people. They’ve set their own standards and lived by them. Today, if you look at someone like a Kate Middleton — what an absolutely fabulous royal is she! She belongs to the people, and there’s a certain disarming openness and relevance to her that makes her an ideal modern woman.

Apart from your great love for fashion, you’re also known to be inspired by your passion for cinema, be it Ratatouille or The Constant Gardner — which your “Opium” line at the Delhi Couture Week was based on, or even the cinema of Satyajit Ray…
I’m a Bengali, so I’ve grown up seeing a lot of world cinema, and I can’t really disassociate myself from it…for Bengalis, it’s as much a way of life as drinking tea and sitting on the road and doing adda. My mind is like a camcorder that keeps recording images (from cinema.) I think it is a great visual medium and fashion is a very strong visual medium as well, so somewhere the crossover is bound to happen.

Your ramp shows are nothing short of performance art. Have you thought about using a different medium to present your collections?
Well I always think about it! Presentation for me is very important because when you present a line, you have to present the whole story. Communicating your fantasies is almost like a social obligation that all fashion designers must share with their customers.

You’ve previously said that your work is a “broad and social commentary”. What commentary is that?
My work probably is a commentary on what India used to be in the past, what it is today and what it will be in the future. The debacle that happened at Cannes with Vidya Balan and me, it was a commentary about Indians striving to be Indian or not Indian, striving to be modern or not modern or post-modern. Therein lies the push and pull within the country, how certain Indians are trying to hold on to the identity of being Indian and how others are embarrassed about it and want to be modern for the sake of being modern. And that kind of push and pull factor is reflected in my work.

After all the awards and the rave reviews, what defines “achievement” for you?
Achievement has always been a personal milestone. It’s wonderful to read great reviews yet disheartening when someone trashes you. I’ve never preached, “Wear only Indian clothing” — I think there should be a balance. I’ve made a whole lot of young girls look to the sari for eveningwear instead of Western apparels, and that has been my biggest achievement.