The Creator

You know, as I am getting older, I am realising that I have a problem and the problem is that I can’t really rest or sleep. And you realise it’s become a kind of a disease because I complain that I don’t have time to go for a holiday, so my holiday pattern is very unusual. I’ll go somewhere very far from India where I am not going to meet any friends or clients, I’ll pick a 12-hour flight where I am going to sleep throughout, that is how tired my body is. When I go, I plan many things… I’m going to do this I’m going to do that, but I end up sleeping in my hotel and doing room service. And after two days I’m like ‘I need to go back home to my work’. I can’t enjoy my holiday. So what happens with creativity is, it’s also a training of your mind, so you train your mind to get wider and wider... you want your mind to stretch to the maximum.

And I am not only a creative person, I am also a businessman, so the left side of my brain and the right side of my brain are constantly activated. So many designers are only creating, they have other people helping with their business, but I am a one-man show. So what happens is that the mind does get a bit stressed. And when you are training the mind to be that agile constantly, when you are not creating, you feel like a fish out of water, you feel there’s a loss of identity. Anywhere that I go, whether I see a product, whether I see a building, whether I see the colour of a wall, even if I see packaging, my mind keeps talking to me at a furious pace about ‘can that be converted into an outfit, could this be the new packaging that we are doing, could this be a location for my new shoot.…’ When I am on a flight or in a bus I am constantly scanning for interesting people whom I can approach to tell them to go and contact HR if they want to work with me!

I can’t really dissociate myself from my work. At one point of time I used to think it’s the excitement of starting something new, but now I have been in the industry for almost 15 years and if that excitement of creativity has not died down, chances are it never will.

The Entrepreneur

I’ll tell you a story. When I was very young, in Class III, I wrote a script, it was ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ and the script was laced with a lot of dark humour, and I had written it exactly like a script should be written. Every year we had a concert where our drama teacher auditioned us for a play. I remember very nervously going and showing her the script... everything from exit, entry, scenery, costumes... she read the script and stared at me and said ‘I will talk to you tomorrow’. Next day she told me that I don’t think this year the teachers should direct the play, you should direct the play. And I said what about casting, she said ‘it’s completely up to you’. So it was the first time I was allowed, in Class III, to become a director. I was a quiet child in school, so I remember auditioning senior students from Class V and VI, as well as from I and II. They allowed me to sit with the light designer, the set designer, the costume designer and I sketched out all costumes and scenes and ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ was born. It was a runway hit.

Much later I decided that I can become a director and started directing plays. Near my house on Jatin Das Road, between two houses, in garages I used to do an annual play. I was very resourceful... I remember there was a girl who had to become Krishna, and we had no make-up, all our make-up was sketch pens… so I put cream and powder and Robin blue and made her entire skin blue! I got a huge thrashing from my mother later.

I decided why would anybody want to watch my plays for free... and these plays used to be legendary on Jatin Das Road, people from neighbouring paras used to come to see our plays and performances including mini fashion shows. And I used to charge them a hefty sum of 50 paisa a ticket! Tickets were hand-written by us... there used to be a big curtain so that nobody could peek in and see our play without buying the ticket. Every time we made money we used to save that money to buy make-up, and cassettes for background music for the next year’s play. So next year the play would grow a little bigger. That was my first initiation into business.

So for me, if I have two things, I always think how I can make that into four. Much later I started my first business, I used to work with the hawkers of Gariahat market and I used to make jewellery and that’s how I met Koena Mitra, Bipasha Basu and a lot of other people. My first piece of jewellery was sold for a princely sum of Rs 110. It was my most expensive piece and I was nervous who would buy it... but they started selling. My entrepreneurial qualities started… my mother had a maid, so I told her that I’ll pay you more, why don’t you leave that job and make jewellery for me, and my mother was livid. But ultimately my mother started making jewellery with me as well!
I don’t come from a business family, but my grandfather, my mother’s father, was a businessman, he had rice mills, so I think I’ve got his genes, because from my father’s family everybody is an educationist. So everybody keeps telling me that I am more a Marwari than a Bengali because I have more of a business brain, but I think Bengalis were also very good businessmen.

The Visionary

I think the only visionary thing that I have done in the last many years is that I have discovered an Instagram show before anybody did (laughs). When you have a small business you can afford to be a visionary, but when you have a large-format business, you end up being a businessman. People say I am a fashion designer but I don’t think I am one, because other fashion designers create fashions, I just make clothes.

Because also I have come to a phase of life, you can call it maturity or age, but I find two kinds of people — one kind of people who are very conscious about fashion, I find them slightly narcissistic; another kind of people who know what looks good on them and they stick to that all their life, they might not be very fashionable but they are people who have a sense of self.

All the women I have admired in my life, whether it’s Frida Kahlo, whether it’s Madonna, whether it’s Rekha, Amrita Sher-Gil, Edith Piaf... all of them had a style that is iconic and iconism is only created through repetition. Frida Kahlo’s always worn big skirts, Rekha’s always worn Kanjeevaram saris with gajras, Rekha has always gone over the top in a very Rekha style. I like women to have a sense of self and a sense of identity, I like to meet the same women and I like women to age... I am not a very big fan of Botox, skin tightening or people trying to conceal their age, because if you try to conceal your age you end up looking unhappy and insecure... and these to me are anti-fashion.

So the biggest visionary thing that I have done is to tell my customers that this is your look and you are absolutely fine to wear that look every day of your life again and again and again. At the end of the day people want to be who they are and not who they can become. One of the reasons the brand has been very successful is because it makes clothes that are investment worthy. You wear the clothes and go somewhere for the next 10 years, you feel slightly better about spending that kind of money on it, because at the end of the day clothes are

SABYA ON THE RAMP

The Fashion Guru

I don’t think I am. When you call me a fashion guru I am almost embarrassed, I am almost embarrassed to say I am associated with fashion, because I have left that game a very long time ago... almost eight-nine years ago. Today I was discussing my new collection with my team, and I told them a quote from the new Valentino designer Pierpaolo (Piccioli), that there is nothing new left to do, everything has been done, you just need to find your old point of view. Look at Alessandro Michele in Gucci, he’s getting back artisanal clothes. His new collection concept was called (The Alchemist’s Garden) Anti-Modern Laboratory. This is what I have been trying to say for a very long time.

So if you call me a fashion guru I will say yes, I make beautiful Indian clothes. Many people come to Calcutta and want to make houses that look Italian and French, but you have to realise that Italian houses look good in Florence and Tuscany, French villas look good in France because of the light, the landscape around it, the flora and fauna. When you get those things to India your houses don’t only look like an eyesore, they look like a misfit. You can’t really transplant an identity of some other country into your own country. I feel the same way about fashion.

I feel Indian women look the best in Indian clothes. They only look second best in western clothes. So my thing was what do I do, do I trick them into wearing something that is not part of their identity just to make money or do I tell them that this is what you look best in and this is what you should wear.

You know, I have a dream which will hopefully get realised in the next one or two years. I want to open a very democratic clothing company where everybody from the upper middle class and middle class will be able to afford my clothes. You see how middle-class India dresses, they might not have much but they have so much dignity that they end up looking much classier than people wearing designer clothes. I look at people from the crafts council or schoolteachers, I think designer clothes can’t even hold a candle to the way they carry themselves. That’s what I want to achieve. You know, they say that once you are born middle class you are always going to remain middle class, it’s never going to leave you, so I think I want to go back to it. It keeps me in a very happy space.

The Star Stylist

I can only say that I feel good about the power of my brand when actresses decide to wear my clothes, they are paying homage to the way we create our imagery through campaigns. I still remember how Kareena (Kapoor) used to ask should I wear red lipstick, should I do parted hair, should I wear a small bindi. Bipasha, who is known for wearing hot clothes, when she wears my saris, even if I don’t tell her to she will invariably wear a bindi, and gajras in her hair. Deepika (Padukone) has always worn my clothes beautifully. Rani (Mukerji) and Vidya (Balan) have always worn my clothes beautifully.

I also think that if I really had my way, I would’ve dressed up all the Indian actresses in saris and nothing else… because I have grown up seeing the beautiful film stars in saris. Whether it was a Sridevi, whether it was a Mala Sinha or Vidya Sinha, whether it was a Rekha, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Nargis, everybody that I had admired, I had only seen them in saris. And I just feel that saris give you so much power and dignity that why would you want to wear anything else? I think if you are an Indian film star, celebrate who you are.

The Boss

When The Devil Wears Prada came out, I took a few of my assistants to see the film. I said let’s go and watch a lousy comedy, because I had already seen the film! They asked why and I said ‘you’ll understand’. So we go to see the film, and much has been said of Anna Wintour’s tyrannical ways and how tough she is and all that. My assistants all burst out laughing at the end of the film. They looked at me and said the real devil is sitting here, that’s nothing (laughs). But having said that they are also my best friends and we end up having a lot of good times together. We travel together, we try to hang out together. Most of the people who work for me are almost half my age, so I am very, very protective towards them, I am more like a friend and a father figure to them.

MESSAGE TO t2onS READERS

A 16-year-old who wants to pursue a creative career but is under parental pressure to tread the beaten path...
Show your parents my Instagram account and the number of followers (smiles).

A 22-year-old who wants to be an entrepreneur… 

You should be very brave, you should not fear failure, you should be very disciplined, you should learn to take responsibilities, and you should learn to sacrifice. Running a business is like having a baby, you should know you are no longer the most important person in your life, there is an entity that is more important than you.

A 40-year-old who wants to quit his career to lead a more meaningful life...

I just want to say one thing, there is no real utopia, when you settle into what you think is a more meaningful life, the problems of that catch up with you. If you haven’t found meaning in what you do, the problem is yours. However, having said that, if you want to lead a more meaningful life you just have to let go. Because people who learn to let go — it’s almost a spiritual quality — are the people who find meaning in their lives.

A fashion professional who can’t choose whether to settle in Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai or Paris...

Is there a luxury? (Laughs) Settle wherever you find a voice that is your own. I wouldn’t have thought of settling anywhere but Calcutta because Calcutta gives me the unique edge of being who I am. I don’t think if I set up a factory anywhere else I would have been half as successful as I am. I always say settle in a place that is local to you, you can travel the world.

The Mentor

More than being a mentor, I think I inspire people to give their best. Because I have worked very hard to be where I am, I don’t expect any less from people. I have taught a lot of people who have fear of water to swim and they need to really be able to trust you to make that journey with you. I have taught my mother and sister to swim, and lots of people in my factory. So to be a mentor you have to be a friend first… and the good quality I have is on most days when I am not too stressed, I am very compassionate and kind. So a lot of people look up to me for advice. I am not going to condescendingly look down upon you because you can’t do something, but I’ll also tell you the truth.

The Friend

I have very, very few friends, not because I am trying to build barriers or something, but what not many people know about me is that I am painfully shy. There is a dichotomy in my existence, I can stand in front of one thousand people and give a speech, but I can’t sit with five people and have dinner because I don’t know what to speak to them about. And I am very awkward, I was always an awkward child. I could kill myself if I am in a social arena. The only place I don’t mind being social is the backstage of my show because that’s work. That’s where the rest of India and the journalists get to see me. But I have never been comfortable about being social. It’s not a strategy, many people think it’s a strategy that I am trying to be elusive, but that’s not true, it’s a reality. I think my friends in Calcutta have become blue in the face trying to convince me to come for their daughter’s wedding, or this or that, but I haven’t been able to. But having said that, the few little friends that I have will tell you that I am a huge loyalist. If they ask me to kill myself for them I will, no questions asked.

The Brother

You have to ask my sister (Payal). I don’t know who’s the brother! Frankly if you ask me, I am terrified of my sister. She has a strong opinion about everything. I can confront everybody, my mother, my father, I can confront income tax, sales tax (laughs), I can’t confront my sister. There are some people who can get under your skin and control you, you know, I am not embarrassed to say that my sister really controls me.

The Son

I have travelled the full journey from being a timid son to a good son, to a not-so-good son to an impossible son to a terrible son to again becoming a good son. I think it’s a life journey for everyone. I remember when I was a teenager I ran away from my house twice. Once I went to Goa, worked on a beach and cleaned dishes. Once I almost ran away to ISKCON. I got fed up and coloured my hair orange, I forced my father to take me to Trincas and I got up on a table and sang, pretending I am a singer from Bombay. I did everything to exasperate my parents. But now when I look at it, you know the relationship changes and your parents become your children and today all I feel for them is love and I just want to give them everything that I can. So that’s the journey that has turned full circle.

The Traveller

I really don’t need to travel to travel, because I am always travelling inside my head. So much so that I have developed a very bad habit of talking by myself. And a lot of people look at me and ask who are you talking to and I say I am talking to myself. It’s because in my head there are many characters. My sister was very concerned that I have multiple personality disorder (laughs), I said no no, it’s not that. It’s just that I have always been a dreamer, I think of many things in my head, I time travel.

Of course I love to travel, but I don’t like to travel for work anymore. I hate travelling with the agenda of having to wear good clothes or buy clothes or shop, it really stresses me out. One of the reasons why I wanted to get into fashion is because I wanted to travel, but like they say, be careful what you wish for, right now it’s become annoying! I am not a city traveller, who likes to visit monuments or museums… I am a small-city, small-town, countryside traveller. I like to go to a place where there is good weather, where one doesn’t have to dress up formally, which is very important for me while travelling, I like to only wear casual clothes and I like to travel light. So I am happiest when I am on a beach.

I go to Phuket because it is easiest. I have had plans of going to Tahiti for the longest time. I know it will not happen or probably happen when I retire. So now Tahiti has been very cheaply replaced by Phuket because that’s where I can go for two days and come back. Also, with my schedule I can never plan, I get amazed at people who can plan their travel six months in advance because I don’t even know what my life is going to look like tomorrow. So I have a travel agent on standby, and when my HR comes and tells me that the factory is shut for two days for some holiday, I look at my watch, call my travel agent and run to the airport. So for such holidays I can only do Bangkok and Phuket and since I don’t like Bangkok too much, I love going to Phuket.

The Movie Buff

I used to be a big movie buff, I don’t watch movies anymore. My movies have now been restricted to Emirates flights and once in a while when the kids (colleagues) get a movie and I want to watch it with them. I was an avid movie watcher. The last two beautiful movies that I have seen, one was Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe and the other was The Girl on the Train.

And I must tell you that The Telegraph made it very easy for me to decide which movie to watch, because I completely watched my movies on the basis of Pratim’s (Pratim D. Gupta) reviews. He’s such a mercenary and his standard of movie watching is so high, that if Pratim said it’s a movie to watch, I just went with my eyes closed to watch it and I enjoyed it and came back.

The Worker

I will tell you, at work I am extremely efficient, I don’t want to waste a single moment, so I constantly flit between creative work and business work. Now I have started looking into infrastructure, tax planning, finance, everything, so my day is highly scheduled. I don’t think anyone will be able to tell me that I have wasted a single moment at work.

At home it’s the exact opposite. If I lived on my own and didn’t have house help, you would never have wanted to enter my house. Because I don’t do anything. I have a cook, I have a driver, I have a gardener who comes and tends to my terrace garden, I have a help who cleans the house, and I am completely hundred per cent dependent on them. So much so that my cook decides what I will eat and at what time, my house help decides what clothes I will wear. I come to the house and I just drop dead.

After reading this, the one thing I want to ask Sabyasachi is.... Tell t2@abp.in