Sabyasachi: Rakhi could use a makeover

Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee might not be showing at the year's Fashion Week, but that didn't stop him from dropping by.

We caught up with him for a quick tete-a-tete:

The one personality you'd like to design for?
If it's a man it has to be Javier Bardem (Hollywood actor) and if it's a woman Vanessa Paradis (French singer and actress and wife of Hollywood dreamboat Johnny Depp). They are very strong and defiant personalities.

The politician you'd like to design for?
I know this sounds cliched but Sonia Gandhi.

Your take on Rani Mukerji's look for Dil Bole Hadippa.
Sexy! Rani Mukerji is not someone who has been considered to be body beautiful. She has worked with her trainer to make herself look fit. And I have always believed that if you have it you better flaunt it.

The one person you'd want to give a makeover to?
There are many. But if I had to pick one, it'd have to be Rakhi Sawant. She's someone who has a great amount of wit and the bling somehow overshadows it. Maybe she could tone it down a bit. Rakhi's tackiness has become her brand. But if people are going to emulate that god help us all.

Worst-dressed celebrities according to you?
I'd just say the whole lot of actors from the Indian soap operas. A lot of audiences emulate their sense of style, which needs to change like now.

And the best-dressed?
Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy are the two people who have proven over and over again that less is more. I met their daughter a few months ago, dressed in a Kanjeevaram sari and she looked so beautiful, I simply couldn't get her out of my head!

He has designed jewellery, bed linen and now will be designing what is being promoted as couture homes. The designer has tied up with Samira Habitats, a luxury lifestyle real estate company, and will design six homes exclusively for them in Alibaug, near Mumbai.

Excerpts:

Why have you made a foray into real estate at a time when the industry is perhaps in its worst shape?
People will never stop buying houses. So even though real estate may not be looking too good right now, it will eventually pick up. I believe recession is a time of opportunities. And if you give people something that is price sensitive and value for their money, they will buy it.

Are you still associated with Bombay Dyeing for their bed linen collection?
Yes I am. I believe in long-term association and creating products that can reach out to as many people as possible. I come from a school of thought that believes that designer stuff need not necessarily come at a price.

By when do you plan to have the six villas ready?
The first of the six will be ready in the next 12 months. Samira Habitats has given me the liberty to then take my time as long as I am able to give it my 100 per cent.

After Black, what are the films you're working on?
There are three projects in the pipeline -- Balki's Pa starring Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan, Mani Ratnam's Ravan also starring Abhishek Bachchan along with Aishwarya Rai and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish, which stars Aishwaya Rai with Hrithik Roshan. I have been keen on promoting khadi and indigenous fabrics and you will see a lot of Indian fabrics in these projects.