Manish Malhotra

Bollywood is not only an acting intensified place but one where and fashion is as important as the director, actor, songs or the screenplay. A designer who beautifies the characters of a more than two hour film, Manish Malhotra considered as the most successful fashion designer in India. His design sensibility is applauded across the industry of both film and fashion. Malhotra envisions the perfect look for the movie’s character and produces pieces that reflect the actor’s personality and enhance their body structure.

Malhotra is recognized for designing outfits for Preity Zinta, Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai Bachan, Alia Bhatt Katrina Kaif, Rani Mukherji, Karisma Kapoor, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Mahduri Dixit, Sushmita Sen, Sridevi and etc. Although Malhotra mainly designs for females, he has also dressed Bollywood men, such as Imran Khan and Shahrukh Khan. He designed the wedding dress for Kareena Kapoor. His outfits were worn at Lakme Fashion Week as well.

In addition to this, he has created dresses for celebrities from Hollywood, such as Kate Moss, Karolina Kukova, Naomi Campbell, Reese Witherspoon, Kylie Minogue and Demi Moore.

The Prince of ethnic  yet contemporary designs has received a number of awards, like Filmfare Award, Zee Cine Award, Showtime Opinion Poll Award, Bollywood Award, Elle Style Award, and so on.

While designing for the slim, smart and pretty women, Malhotra gained inspiration to drop some weight himself. The designer lost twenty kilos with his fitness regime and had to resist food he loved.

Since childhood, Malhotra was fond of colors and often advised his mother about make-up and lipstick shades. He was good at sketching and painting but he was only an average student at school studies. The two things that helped him survive through his formal educational training were his perfect illustrations and diagrams.

Prior to pursuing fashion design as a career path, Malhotra spent a while modeling. He started off by doing a job at a boutique that paid him lower than 500 Indian rupees per month. At first his mother didn’t approve but later when his parents observed his passion towards design, they accepted their son’s choice.

At first he was a little bewildered, however when Malhotra met Rakesh Sreshtha, a renowned photographer in India, his gateway to the fashion industry was opened and he found direction. His first attempt to producing a dress for Juhi Chawla didn’t go well but Sreshtha persuaded Malhotra to work for his modeling shoots. Gradually, Manish came into contact with actors like Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shirodkar, Chunkey Pandey, and gained acknowledgement and business. Later he met many other celebrities both young and old to work with.

His career breakthrough happened when he made apparel for the lead heroine of the film, Rangeela. From a simple and sober character in the film, he turned Urmila Matondkar into a sultry and sexy woman. Manish not only decide her clothes but her make-up and hair too. After this project he became the ‘wanted’ designer. Most women required him to make them irresistible!

He is one of kind because first Malhotra spends time reading the film’s script, analyzes the characters’ personalities and roles, as well as discusses the dress with the actor; and then begins to design clothes for them. Manish never feels restricted in terms of the size of the actor, but he does feel bad when people show no interest in the designing of costumes.