Bollywood’s spanking new producer Manish Malhotra, whose debut film ‘Gustaakh Ishq’ opened on Friday and is getting rah-rah reviews from the audience and critics, had at one time wanted to direct films, not produce them. In a heartfelt chat with Peeping Moon’s Mark Manuel for the new podcast series ‘BenchMARK Conversations’, India’s most famous fashion designer, in-demand film stylist and bespoke, high-end couturier reveals that it was always his dream to direct films.
Manish says, “I was always an ardent fan of cinema. I used to watch them wide-eyed. I’d notice the clothes, heroines, music, songs, landscape, the interiors. Everything inspired me. Cinema was my first love. And clothes, my big love. But I hadn’t studied fashion designing. Then I heard Quentin Tarantino saying, ‘I didn’t study direction – I just went to the movies’, and I thought, oh my God, that’s me! I decided to combine the two and get into costumes. If I came out with an interesting look, I’d make a name.”
That was 35 years ago and Manish began by styling 1984 Miss India Juhi Chawla for two films in 1990 – ‘Swarg’ and ‘Lootere’. He has since styled over 500 films. Putting his own dream of direction aside. But Manish says, “In 2004, I wrote a musical that I want to direct. I even went to actors. But in 2003, I styled Karisma Kapoor’s wedding outfits and also Karan Johar’s ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. I became popular. People started calling me for wedding clothes. So, I thought, why not make my own label?”
Bollywood saw a slew of massive hits around this time. All of them in the romantic-musical genre. And in all of them, Manish was the stylist. His sarees and tunics became so popular, that he thought he would just stick with sarees and tunics and start a brand. He says, “Each time I thought of directing a film, my career moved five steps ahead. And I started feeling that maybe direction was not for me.” So he became a producer. And his debut film, the old world romance ‘Gustaakh Ishq’ is drawing in crowds.
# Catch Manish Malhotra’s full podcast about films, fashions and faces on ‘BenchMARK Conversations’ with Mark Manuel on YouTube with this link:
