Your label completes five years and Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar complete 25 years of collaboration…
I remember only one quote of Vishal Bhardwaj from one of his interviews… “I am like a leaf on a tree which cannot grow without a branch. My existence has no meaning without Gulzar saab. Such is the spiritual bhakti in Vishal for Gulzar that today their relationship has gone from creative collaborators to soul mates. The world I come from is one where we celebrate consumerism over emotion. I found my inspiration in Gulzar’s words and the romance in Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj’s films and music.
Over 25 years of collaboration between them have given us cinematic and musical treasures that will sustain and inspire many generations. Today I celebrate five years of our Label and the opening of our second store in Khan Market. Vishal & Rekha Bhardwaj’s presence in this ‘Museum of Memories’ was meant to surround a lifetime of joy and hope, giving a fitting ode to the magic of cinema and art, made me create everything we do at Torani.
What was done in the research to set up this display when the store was launched?
Over the long years of archiving life and objects, I pulled out all my father’s old tapes that contained Gulzar Saab’s music and poetry. Movie posters and old Filmfare magazines with vintage interviews of Vishal Bhardwaj. Albums, life anecdotes and personal family photos taken by Rekhai. I wanted to layer them with personal handwritten notes in the clothing and textile store – symbolically depicting the influence they had on pop culture and changing the way artists like myself looked at music and cinema.
For example, ~ images and lyrics from the popular song Namak were saved to a collection designed by me titled Kaaya which talked about female desire and sexuality. There were so many subliminal treatments from Vishal and Gulzar that revolutionized music and filmmaking in the Indian landscape.
What drew you to Vishal Bhardwaj’s world of music and cinema?
Torani for me has always been far beyond the clothes we make. It was a potpourri of music, culture, stories and cinema. Ever since I was little, I used to express my feelings through scenes from a movie or a song by my favorite artist. When I was young, I remember my father taking us to special Ghazal nights at different hotels in Delhi every week. He introduced me to the poetry and music of Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj and since then it has never left my side. Gulzar’s many iconic lyrics from Dil dhoondta hai to Ek wo din bhi evoked feelings of love, pain and loneliness in me at different stages of life.
Later when I grew up – I realized the magic and masculinity of Vishal Bhardwaj. His journey started with music and later moved to cinema; he is a self-taught artist…therefore his scenes, his films and even the larger narrative of his films ~ take a poetic stance. There’s a stylized opulence to the way he portrays his characters… and makes his music. Who else in the world could reimagine Shakespeare’s Othello to give us the magical Omkara? Or the use of the words ‘beedi’ in mainstream pop culture songs leading to all-time global charts.
Which of Vishal Bhardwaj’s movies did you like the most in terms of stories and also fashion of character assignment?
It would be unfair to name one, from Shabana Ji’s look and costumes in Makdee (2002) to Tabu’s sophisticated and timeless charm in Haider (2014). The visuals, style and canvas in his films are as raw, real and detailed as the poetry and dialogue. If I have to be limited to name one, I would say 7 Khoon Maaf starring Priyanka Chopra was the most varied and layered in terms of costume as the character goes through many stages in her life. The style and details gave her presence much more gravitas that was needed to convince the audience of her life experiences shown in the film.
You have always been someone who brought the fusion of fashion and films. How does cinema improve your vision?
Cinema runs in my blood and invariably permeates everything I do. And I feel he did that for every Indian in the world. We identify and look for ourselves in characters and heroes that light up our world on the silver screen. We empathize and cry, dance and celebrate, inspired by the visual images that connect us in this surreal world.
From the unforgettable heroines of Hindi cinema who twirl in the stage frames of Yash Chopra’s films, to the intense music and poetry of Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar. It became the way I framed my design language, and I often looked for words and visuals that would explain my feelings when I couldn’t.