First brush
My first stint with Sridevi was a photoshoot for Rakesh Shrestha in the early 1980s for a cover for the Movie magazine. I had just finished studying design and Sridevi was this big-screen goddess everybody was talking about post Himmatwala. I went for the shoot with this little pouch that had a pair of earrings and crushed fabric in gold. Those days, when she came back from Madras, she would stay in Centaur Hotel. She asked me if I got the dress, I replied in the affirmative; she looked at my little bag and me and said, “Is the dress in this?” and was taken by surprise how a costume could fit in a little pouch. She had curlers on and I asked her to not remove them and draped a turban on it. That image also inspired a Lux campaign and was recreated in a white outfit. She later asked me if I would want to work on films and I was signed as one of the three costume designers for Chandni.