When Gudda, as the flamboyant fashion designer Rohit Bal is better known, presented his first collection Guldastah, at Lakme Fashion Week, Mumbai, it was stunning what with dry Chinar leaves and shikaras laden with colourful flowers. It was Bal’s ode to the beauty of Kashmir—where he comes from. It was probably also the sign of a more mature Bal who increasingly prefers substance to hype. We caught up with the designer who is known to dress up the likes of Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan among others, for an update on matters close to his heart and craft.
You have dressed so many stars right from Amitabh Bachchan for KBC to Ranveer Singh at his wedding this year, how difficult is it to dress celebrities?
Bollywood stars and I have had a deep personal relationship for many years. A-list actors such as Ranveer Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karan Johar, to name just the best, have all worn my clothes at significant moments of their lives. Actor and former model Arjun Rampal first modelled for me in Delhi and he remains one of my closest buddies. He is always there to model for my shows. Just lately, he closed the show for me in a black sherwani and embroidered shawl at the FLO ‘Khadi Goes Global’ event in New Delhi. I respect actors and the work they do. And they respect me. I have never had any of them displaying any starry airs or dictating to me because that will not work with me. I am the first to acknowledge the immense influence the film industry has on the fashion industry especially in this country.
More recently French designer Christian Louboutin just wore a Bal Nehru jacket to a private dinner at a friend’s place last week. Over the years global stars like Naomi Campbell, Anna Kournikova and Pamela Anderson have worn my outfit. It seems a long time back now that I designed the wedding sherwani of Bharat Sahni, and his father-in-law Rishi Kapoor for his wedding to Riddhima Kapoor.
Industrialist Sunjay Kapur also wore a Rohit Bal outfit at his wedding to Karishma Kapoor. l designed the trousseau for Priya Sachdev when she married Vikram Chatwal and Vivek Oberoi wore a blue embroidered Sherwani by Rohit Bal at his wedding reception.
Fashionably yours: Designer Rohit Bal on Bollywood, celebrity friends and Article 377
Isn’t it a natural progression from dressing actors for special occasions to designing clothes they wear in their films?
I have designed and styled for many celebrities, many of whom are Bollywood actors but I am not a designer who does clothes for a film character. To design for a film is essentially the job of a costume designer. I am not one. In India though unlike Hollywood, the line between being a fashion designer and a Bollywood designer is somewhat blurred. Now that may be a good thing but that is not who I am. In Hollywood, a mainstream fashion designer does not do costumes for a film. Here it happens all the time, I don’t depend on Bollywood for publicity. I have nothing against films and I do realise that Bollywood has a great influence on the Indian fashion industry. It’s just that I don’t see myself piggybacking on the film industry.
Why are you averse to filmi glamour at your shows?
At all my most successful shows, it’s just my collection that is the showstopper. I have opted out of having a Bollywood star to close the show trend. I feel when you put a film star on the ramp, that is all that is noticed. The designer, the clothes all take a backseat. When I do a show, the glamour comes from my designs, the beauty of the garments should be stunning enough to close a show. I do not need any celebrities, from films or otherwise, to sell my clothes. Celebrities from so many different fields are my friends and I let my friends be just that. I have never ever needed them to endorse me. My work does that.
Fashionably yours: Designer Rohit Bal on Bollywood, celebrity friends and Article 377
As someone who has never bothered to hide his sexual orientation, how did you celebrate the Supreme Court’s decision on Article 377?
I was thrilled to bits. I wore a Nehru jacket with 377 crossed out on the chest even before the judgement came! I knew it had to come. But I did not party hard into the night to celebrate. I did not scream and shout about it. I welcomed the judgement, celebrating with a smaller closer group of friends because that is how I celebrate now. That is who I am now.
A Rohit Bal creation from the runway.
Are you now at a point in life when you are done with hype and looking at lasting commitments to deeper issues?
Yes, for sure. When I was younger it was all about shock and awe and partying through the night. As you get older, things that matter change. I had a bad health scare, a heart attack in 2010 and I am more careful about my health now. So I am not excessive about anything. I want to do things that have a lasting positive impact on myself and I want to make a difference to society, a difference that endures. I don’t want to do one show and put one weaver on the ramp to show I worked with them. There is a deeper commitment to my craft now and I want to work for those less privileged than me. I want the work to be on a much larger, more substantial scale at the grassroots level impacting many people, not just a handful. So I am doing the Kashmir chapter with the women of my home state and I hope it will change their lives for the better in a sustaining way. It’s something close to my heart, it’s for the homeland that gave me my aesthetics and my life’s purpose. It’s my small gesture of giving back.
No comments:
Post a Comment