It has been five months since Manish Malhotra had announced that he had moved lock, stock and sewing machines to a mammoth new space. His new headquarters, a 40,000 sq.ft atelier spread over four floors, is undeniably a massive achievement. But Malhotra has barely invited anyone over to see it. There was no launch party or a press lunch. In typical Malhotra style, he just got down to business as usual.
"I am not a show-off," Malhotra, nearly 57, replied when I asked him why. It took me weeks of pleading, prodding and even an occasional stomping of feet to get him to show me around.
The giant glass and chrome building stands tall in Bandra's Guru Nanak Road, just an ordinary street that leads you to the station, almost as an homage to the worker bees Mumbai is famous for. It overlooks the Bandra Talao, a manmade paddle lake that offers a small breather for the city that does not sleep.
Malhotra, easily India's most famous fashion designer and a blue-chip Bollywood A-lister, calls himself an ordinary "worker" even after 33 years of being in the business. This year has unarguably been his busiest one yet. He opened the headquarters, dressed up two movie star brides for their weddings, announced he is directing a film, started a production studio of his own, launched a jewellery line, designed 1,300 costumes for the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre's The Great Indian Musical: Civilisation to Nation, and was announced as the chosen Indian designer for the newly privatised Air India. That would possibly be the workload of 10 designers, or more. When does Malhotra sleep?
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