For me, fashion is like writing a screenplay: Karan Johar
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| Katrina Kaif and Karan Johar at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival |
The last panel discussion at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star was froth with entertaining anecdotes and lots of laughter, thanks to the moderator Karan Johar who announced right in the beginning that there can be no seriousness when he is on the panel.
Leading a conversation on ‘Fashion in Film’, Karan
was joined by actress Katrina Kaif along with the biggies from the world of fashion
– Christian Loubotin and Prabal Gurung. “Sometimes fashion is considered to be
frivolous to the intellectual mind but for me, it’s just like writing a
screenplay,” Karan said, throwing open the discussion on how the red carpets
have taken film industries world over by storm. So much so that with respect to
actors, fashion easily takes over their being today, keeping their films and
characters at the backburner. “I do feel more importance should go back to the
designing of clothes in films rather than the number of gowns worn at the red
carpet,” commented Katrina, who was referred to by Karan as glamorous from the
outside and inherently casual and easy going from the inside.
For a film industry, which has constantly dictated
fashion norms, Hindi cinema has been intertwined with the fashion industry from
early on, with both industries drawing inspiration from each other. Prabal, who
was born in Singapore and brought up in Nepal, owes his career to Hindi films
and Rekha. “Hindi films allowed me to dream. The orchestra, the violins
playing, the dancers in the rain...it all allowed me to soar. It gave me
courage,” recounted the self-confessed Rekha fan, who has designed for the
First Lady Michelle Obama and heads an internationally renowned collection. On
the other hand, French shoemaker Christian is a bonafide Sridevi fan and has an
unusual stint in Tollywood to his credit. “There was a South film being made in
Chennai. I played an ice-cream seller against a painted backdrop of an Eiffel
Tower. I was 16 then and was visiting India to see Bollywood studios. I only
went to Madras, watched Satyajit Ray’s Devi
there along with the filmmaker himself being present for a Q and A session
after the screening,” Christian recalled, adding, “The interactive session with
Ray was one of my biggest moments of cinema. I also watched Guru Dutt’s films.”
Christian’s tryst with Hindi films began with Dilip Kumar’s Aan, that he watched at a theatre in
Seattle. “I immediately fell in love with the entire movie,” the eclectic
shoemaker said, whose love for shoes began with his obsession with dancing
shoes in films.
Although film and fashion have always gone hand in
hand, the two have often cast a dark shadow on each other too. Especially in
today’s times, a fashionable actor is easily perceived to be dumb and not good
with his or her work. “Well, I am not going to try to oppose this thought
process. I would just say that not all actors are brilliant in the industry.
Fashion is at your disposal to use it to your advantage. And there is nothing
wrong if actors are using fashion. It is the most complicated and interesting
industry out there. Also, I am of the firm belief that fashion and intelligence
doesn’t have to be mutually explicit,” Prabal opined. To which Katrina said,
“Glamour is who you are and how you carry it.”
The discussion came to a close by touching upon the
ever existing itch about most fashion being unaffordable and hence, being
restricted to the rich and famous. “One charges according to the work one puts
in. It’s about the process of making a design and how something is
constructed,” Christian justified. While Karan went on to raise a toast to all
spin offs of high fashion, which makes expensive brands accessible to the less
privileged. “I have made a career out of emulating careers. One should totally
go for the spin offs of brands. It doesn’t make you any lesser. So, more power
to Linking Road,” he signed off.
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