Owning a Sabya is like owning a Chanel ~ Life Stylzz

When he forayed into the fashion scene a decade ago, designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee was 26 – older than most designers who make their debut.

But his show and style were received with thundering applause. Ten years later, he shares a love-hate relationship with his critics, who insist that he isn't experimenting with anything new.

When we recently met him at his factory in Kolkata, Sabya was busy putting final touches to his grand finale collection for the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW).

Sitting among piles of clothes, he chuckled when we asked him if he'd show something 'new' this time. He said, "I want a Sabya epidemic in the country and that can't happen if you keep experimenting! Owning a Sabya is like owning a Chanel's piece. These things never go out of fashion, and you invest in these for life. For this collection, I'm inspired by underwear, and the whole collection will be based on a very perverse, but fun logic.

There will be a whole lot of colour, subtle humour, elements from 1940s' war movies, etc. I'll have a lot of fun during the show because of the reactions."

So, will it be a 'show' as grand finales are expected to be? "No", says Sabya, "I can't play to the audience now. It's not my thing. Just like I don't believe in networking through parties after shows." The reason, says he, is that he has mellowed with age. "I was a wild child in school. I had orange hair and I was rusticated for writing the lyrics of a Madonna song on my denims. Now, I'm as boring as a banker. After my first show, people said, 'He's the next best thing to have happened to India after the sewing machine.' But after that, I thought my second white show was really bad... I reached home and cried buckets."

Now, Sabya says, his business sense supersedes his creative sensibilities. "I am a much better businessman than I am a designer. Actually, I am an average designer, but others are churning out bad products, so that makes me look good. But I'm smart. I know what the masses want. For instance, I tell a lot of people that you should work on the saree. It helps you with the taxes!" His claim is supported by the fact that he made more than 37,000 ensembles last year, and has more innovative plans up his sleeve. He says, "By May-June, I'll start selling Do-It-Yourself Sabyasachi kits from my stores. The kits will have a dupatta and cloth done by me, but people can get it stitched from their local tailors."

Coming back to his show at WIFW, what about accusations of him shifting allegiance from Mumbai to Delhi? "The answer is simple really," says Sabya, "Sunil (Sethi) had been telling me for a while to come and do a show in Delhi. Finally, I had free time after finishing all my movie commitments, so I said yes." He's taking a break from Bollywood too. "There's too much commitment needed in movies, and if I start charging according to the time, I'd become unaffordable for most people in Bollywood. Of course, I'm always there for friends. Rani stood by me when she was number one and I was a fledgling designer. And therefore, we've become friends for life. Vidya and I are very thick friends. But I'm not taking a break from doing costumes for movies at the moment, otherwise my business would crash"