Sabyasachi Mukherjee is back on the small screen with Band Baajaa Bride season 4. He talks to K Bhardwaj about his ‘hair raising’ experience of dressing couples
You are doing the show for the third time. What keeps you hookedIJ
Every season we try to explore new avenues, new romances, different kinds of brides, back stories, ways of shooting and even styling and we try to be progressive with different kinds of wedding concepts. The biggest challenge is always timelines. Trying to coordinate 13 brides in a span of three months and make sure we cater to each of their whim and fancy can sometimes be a very hair raising experience.
How is the show different this timeIJ
This season we’re dressing up both the bride and the groom. We are not just mentoring them on physical beauty but on inner beauty and evolving their minds as well. Also we’re looking at taboo subjects like second marriages and so on.
The show is focussing on young love stories. Do you think it allows you to reach out to younger peopleIJ
People usually get married between 20-25 years so anyway the consumer targetted is relatively young. The show helps me reach unknown pockets of people that I wouldn’t have been able to meet in my course of career. It’s a great interface between me and my customers and the people aspiring to get into the brand.
How would this show help in bridging the gap between you and your clienteleIJ
I don’t use Band Baajaa Bride only as a forum to make pretty clothes. I aim to use this platform to neutralise taboos and views about the wedding markets. The show helps me understand the psyche of India and its people, whether its from a small town, a village, a tier two city, a metro or even a NRI-community. The diaspora of brides who come to write into the show is so wide that it really helps us in our market research.
What is Sabya’s idea of a brideIJ
An ideal bride is someone who holds a job, is intelligent and has a mind of her own, is respectful towards her family, traditions and people around her.
Share some interesting experiences from the shoot.
The funniest thing is the energy and the madness of the show. Sometimes we have to make clothes for brides who have deep aspirations from us as designers. We can’t afford to meet the bride because usually the wedding outfit takes about two-three months and we only have four-five days to put it together. In spite of all the chaos, we have managed to dress up all the brides and grooms to their expectations and I am very grateful for that. None of us on the show are actors, hence it becomes very challenging for us when we have to shoot re-takes.
Are you camera-friendlyIJ
I am very confident about the way I look, so it makes me comfortable infront of the camera, contrary to what people think of me.
Rohit Bal told us that the future of fashion lies in numbers, not in restricted clientele. What’s your take on thisIJ
I absolutely agree. I believe that by deflating prices and increasing quality we reach out to wider mass of people. In a country like India, if you are sitting on top of the pyramid, you need to plunge down to the base for survival.
Couture is high-end fashion. Do you plan to come up with something for Indian middle classIJ
The wider your base goes, the more organised you need to be. Couture is an investment friendly business whereas prêt, is a very investment heavy business. So once my investors are in order, I will definitely venture into it.