Thaindian News

By Radhika Bhirani
New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) Tinsel town’s beloved designer Manish Malhotra says he enjoyed creating a dress for Australian pop diva Kylie Minogue for her Bollywood debut “Blue” but the task was a little challenging since he received the singer’s measurements via fax.

“Designing for Kylie was fun but I received her measurements on a fax,” Malhotra told IANS.

The outfit was designed for a single song in the action-adventure film in which Kylie has made a guest appearance. She shot for the song along with Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar while she was in Mumbai last month.

Describing Kylie’s dress, Malhotra said: “The dress is very glamorous. It’s a champagne-coloured Western outfit. It’s basically a Chantilly lace dress that is really short and sexy.”

When the Mumbai-based designer presented the final design, Kylie felt free to pitch in with her inputs to make it look more glamorous.

“She wanted me to add more Swarovski (crystals) and a lot more gold tassels to the dress to glam it up,” he said.

Apart from having worked for Kylie’s look in “Blue”, Malhotra says his schedules are hectic this year thanks to the number of films that he is designing costumes for.

Malhotra forayed into Bollywood by designing for actress Juhi Chawla for the movie “Swarg” in 1990 but he redefined the the definition of Bollywood costumes in Ram Gopal Varma’s “Rangeela” (1995), which got him immense popularity.

He is also the man who revolutionised the fashion scene in Bollywood by envisioning a distinct look for a movie’s character.

Most of Malhotra’s work has been for popular films like “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”, “Hero No.1″, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Dil To Pagal Hai”, “Hum Saath Saath Hain”, “Kaho Na Pyar Hai”, “Mohabbatein”, “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”, “Kal Ho Naa Ho”, “Main Hoon Na”, “Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna” and “Om Shanti Om”.

As for now, “Toonpur Ka Superhero”, “Action Replay”, “Main Aur Mrs. Khanna”, “Life Partner”, “Shortcut”, “My Name Is Khan” and Tamil film “Endhiran” are some of the films that the designer is working on.

He is quite excited about working for the Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol-starrer “My Name Is Khan” as well as for “Endhiran”, which is a science-fiction film starring Rajnikant and Aishwarya Rai.

“Designing for ‘Robot’ (’Endhiran’ was earlier titled ‘Robot’) has been fun as it has a very multi-dimensional look to it and ‘My Name Is Khan’ has a very 70s look. Besides Kajol has two distinct looks in the film - so I have enjoyed doing both. For ‘Shortcut’, I have given Amrita Rao a completely new look,” he said.

Malhotra was here Thursday to showcase his autumn-winter collection at the ongoing Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW). His show, which was inspired by his friend Shah Rukh Khan’s Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkota Knight Riders, attracted a packed house.

The glam quotient at his show was high with cricketers Aakash Chopra and Murali Kartik sashaying down the ramp. Bollywood beauties Amrita Rao and Sophie Chaudhary came on to the catwalk to support Malhotra.

Malhotra will also be showcasing a different collection on the same theme at the Lakme Fashion Week to be held in Mumbai later this month.