Bollywood biggies styled by designer Manish Malhotra promote a weaver cluster
Undoubtedly actors Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone sashayed down the ramp in their own stellar style and gave life to designer Manish Malhotra’s embroidered innovations for an annual fund-raiser designed to save the craftswomen of Mijwan, a cause championed by actor-activist Shabana Azmi. And though many may have carped about their lack of chemistry or eye contact, the stars clearly did not overplay their USP so that they did not overwhelm the cause of promoting the talented women from the hinterland.
The most popular faces in films, fashion and business came together for the annual show by the Mijwan Welfare Society in Mumbai on Thursday night. Ace designer Manish Malhotra fashioned the traditional artform of chikankari into contemporary silhouettes in his signature style.
Speaking about his experience of walking the ramp with Deepika Padukone after so long, Ranbir said, “I think the biggest thing is we have come together to walk for Mijwan Welfare Society. That is the bigger picture here so it’s always wonderful to walk for Manish with Deepika and for Shabana aunty and everybody connected with the Mijwan Welfare Society.”
When Deepika was asked about her experience of walking the ramp with Ranbir, she said, “It’s very exciting. This is for the first time I am walking the ramp for the Mijwan fashion show. I started off my career as a model. I walked the ramp many times but this was special. It felt genuine, real and connected. I feel everyone behind the scenes has worked really hard in doing what they do. Not just putting the show together but you can see the work, effort, and craftsmanship.”
The Padmaavat actress also said it gives her real joy to see the Mijwan group doing so much to empower women and children. “I think most importantly, the fact that they have empowered so many women and children gives me so much joy and it's inspiring to see the work they do,” added Deepika.
Noted Urdu poet and writer Kaifi Azmi founded Mijwan Welfare Society with the goal of making Mijwan village a scalable and replicable model of development with a focus on the girl child and women.
While Mijwan didn’t exist on the map of India in 1993, today it is known worldwide and several individuals from the Indian film industry gathered to celebrate the inspiring work the foundation has done.
Some of the names who attended the high profile event included veteran stars Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rehman, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor , Dimple Kapadia, Poonam Dhillon, Huma Qureshi, Sonakshi Sinha, Atul and Vandana Kasbekar, Nandita Das, Rahul Bose, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Sooraj Pancholi, Kriti Kharbanda, Pulkit Samrat, Saqib Saleem, Neelam Roy, Rasika Duggal and Perizaad Zorabian among others.