Neeraj Surana in Sharbari designs

It’s hard to encapsulate a body of work developed over 20 years in a 40-minute show. And Sharbari Datta doesn’t exactly plan to make a retrospective out of her show that celebrates the completion of 20 years of her label. Instead, the designer wants to depict an “evolved” Sharbari and at the same time provide a glimpse of the road ahead. So, months of designing and editing will culminate in the menswear designer’s showing at the Pala in ITC Sonar on Thursday evening, in association with t2.

“I didn’t need any special preparations for the show… I have only been totally focused on designing… that’s what I am always doing anyway,” smiles Sharbaridi.

The show will open with a three-minute docu-feature on her by filmmakers Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Dibyendu Bose. “It’s her mind and her work that we have tried to capture… I love her work… the way she makes statement menswear…. And onar baritao amar khub bhalo laage… (I also love her house)… the way she uses a collage of mythology, nature, the ancient and the modern… in her house and her work. We wanted to capture the sensitivity…,” says Aniruddha.

The “extensive” shooting took the crew to Sharbari’s Broad Street house, her studio and her house in Santiniketan. The result is “very interesting”, says the filmmaker.

After being screened at the show, the docu-feature might travel to short film festivals too. “Like we have documentaries on artists, Sharbaridi is also an artist… her work is an art form…. It’s turned out to be very interesting. I plan to send it to docu film festivals,” adds Aniruddha.

The music has been scored by Prabuddha Banerjee and the editing is by Arghya Kamal Mitra.

Once the film sets the tone, the spotlight will be on Sharbari’s clothes. Her trademark dhoti-kurta and sherwani-churidar will be the show-stealers along with more casual Indo-western silhouettes. A western formal line will also make its debut on the ramp — suits of different kinds, tuxedos… the works. Why western? “When you see a man in a suit, you can’t tell the label… even if it is an Armani, a suit looks the same… maybe those who are very clued in can make out the brand, but most people can’t. So I thought of making suits with my signature… they are totally formal suits but in my style,” she explains.

The new avenue wasn’t difficult to tread though, she says. “Since I had no pressure to follow any trend, it wasn’t difficult for me. Like when I did the bikini collection for IPL, it was easy… I didn’t have to try too hard to make fun and cool clothing,” she adds.

From an exhibition of simple kurtas and dhotis at The Conclave in 1991, to the wardrobe of India’s rich and famous, Sharbari has travelled many a mile. Having catered to two generations in these 20 years, Sharbari feels she has evolved as a designer just as much as she has been responsible for the men’s fashion scene evolving.

“Earlier my work was simple… just needlework… but now it’s evolved a lot. Today there are so many techniques that I use… of course kantha is the main thing, but there is brush painting, block prints, zardozi, crystals, beads… so much.”

What sweetens her success is that it was totally unplanned. “What I feel good about is that it started out casually… as a hobby… I hadn’t planned anything… profit, business, or making a career out of it. I never thought je gorate gorate eta eto boro ekta shape nebe (I hadn’t thought that it would take such a huge shape),” she says.