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Manish Malhotra has been making costumes for Bollywood films for many decades now. Besides being an ace fashion designer with his own brand, Malhotra also has a long-standing association with Bollywood. Recently, he appeared on Kajol and Twinkle Khanna’s show, Two Much, where he made hilarious revelations and shared hilarious anecdotes from his career- including a particular brief that left him puzzled. Manish Malhotra revealed how a filmmaker asked him to design a “sexy” costume for a heroine for a funeral sequence. He said, “One of the first outfits I made, and they said, ‘It’s a funeral scene, so make her a white salwar kameez, but she should look hot.’” While Manish found the brief to be strange, he didn’t want people to think that he “doesn’t know his job”. He later understood the filmmaker’s vision and ended up making a tight-fitting outfit. “I made a fitted, almost tearing salwar kameez,” he recalled. Twinkle Khanna later reminded him of another incident. Twinkle said, “You didn’t enjoy working with someone, and we believe that you sent her a message accidentally. Can you please tell us about that?” While Manish was hesitant at first, he later divulged. The designer said, “This happened once in my life, and I actually enjoyed working with her in a very hit film, and we worked a lot together, we still do. But I wrote to my nephew Puneet Malhotra. I wrote to him, ‘Last day and I’m going on the set, done with this film and done with her.’ I sent the message by mistake to that very actress.” Manish shared, “But she was very gracious, and she was very good about it. So it was all cleared.” In the same episode, Manish Malhotra credited Kajol for starting a fashion trend while working on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. He said, “I told her wow, you’re looking so nice today. The lehenga’s really heavy, right? She picked up the lehenga, and there were sneakers down!” He added, “But actually, the trend of sneakers with the lehenga, she started that.” About Manish Malhotra Few names in Indian fashion command as much reverence as Manish Malhotra. For over three decades, his artistry has defined the very look and feel of modern Bollywood cinema. His first major breakthrough came in 1995 with Rangeela, where his contemporary, character-driven costumes for Urmila Matondkar redefined what on-screen glamour could look like. The film’s success made costume design a talking point in popular culture. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, Manish Malhotra had become synonymous with opulence and style. His collaborations with directors like Karan Johar and Yash Chopra brought forth an era of cinematic fashion that audiences still idolise. Think chiffon saris against the Swiss Alps, luxurious lehengas in palatial weddings, and sharply tailored menswear for leading heroes—all stamped with Malhotra’s signature blend of traditional richness and modern sensibility.
