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Frock fracas
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The controversy involving Suneet Varma and Aki Narula is not uncommon in the industry
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Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Just as this year's Lakme India Fashion week was coming to a graceful close, top designer Suneet Verma went public with a vitriolic outburst against compatriot Aki Narula, accusing him of lifting his creation for the Rani Mukherjee-starrer Bunty aur Babli. Narula was quick to respond, claiming that designers working on an entire film rarely have the repertoire to create costumes for each different mood captured; instead they often source material from elsewhere. He claimed that the blue pancho worn by Rani and splashed in the media was one such "sourced" outfit, purchased from a store in Mumbai with no label. Verma says he finds it hard to believe the outfit would have had no label and has threatened to sue Narula and the film crew, since the outfit, used for the film's publicity, carries no credit to him. Although Narula now says he will give the Suneet Verma label credit, the controversy has been dissected by the media threatening to overshadow the actual collections which were meant to grab the ample media limelight.
Event organiser FDCI (Fashion Design Council of India)'s Director-General Rathi Vinay Jha clearly states that hers is a "promotional body, taking care of the interests of sponsors and designers" but many designers, including Raghavendra Rathore on a prime time news show, agree that the highly publicised Lakme India Fashion Week has been exploited as a forum for a private disagreement.
"When Manish Malhotra used a DKNY outfit in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, DKNY didn't come to sue him," says a leading designer on the FDCI board. "In a film, almost every other scene demands a different outfit and the costume designer has to source them from different places. If Suneet had any problem he could have easily asked Aki or FDCI. Going to the media was just a publicity gimmick."
Another leading female designer admits rip-off is common: "When intermediaries from smallish foreign stores come to buy a few pieces, we know they are going to be ripped off. They can take photographs of your show and then copy it."
This is a well-known fact but what the controversy does throw up are issues of copyright in the nascent fashion industry.
Fashion and film may be ready to mingle freely but unless the ground rules are laid, the fraternising may be precluded by some serious friction.
ANUJ KUMAR
With additional inputs by Hemangini Gupta
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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