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BizAsia talks to Creative Producer Sheetal Agheda

Nowadays it seems many British talents are successfully crossing over to Mumbai for all the razzmatazz that Bollywood movies have to offer. However, arguably, not every talented person makes that transition successfully. BizAsia caught up with Sheetal Agheda who has been a success at just that and who has recently started on her first Bollywood movie, with a well-known production house, as creative producer.

Agheda started her own bespoke styling business, Serpenti, in London for which she was stylist and her and her team saw much success with fashion photoshoots. Following that, she decided to make a move to Mumbai to do the same but her destiny had other ideas.

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BizAsia talks to Sheetal Agheda

How did your stylist status and Serpenti come about?

Whist working with various PR companies in London and Mumbai and styling a few celebs in Mumbai, I realised that most actors like: a second opinion on their dress sense. I started freelance consulting with various actors and Serpenti was formed by myself and one of the founders of Bindis and Tiaras (Make-up company) , Tabinda Shah. With me working as a stylist and Tabinda as head of production, Sozanna was the resident photographer from SP Photography. Serpenti was created as a styling and visual inspiration of western and Asian wear and along with the continuation of styling celebs we started to focus of backward integration of the company with the aim of creating high-end shoots where the sets and locations gave opulence to the sense class, operating the shoots as a full production and looking into the garments and selecting models who specially work for the look. We worked closely with both Julien Trivedi and Mani Kohli in the UK.

What was your first project as stylist in the UK and what kinds of thought and organisational processes did you need to go through?

Our first project in the UK was with Mani Kohli where we used the Umrao Jaan theme with a modern look from Bees Jewellery and their new Mughal collection. We looked at natural light in the venue and models were casted on there looks for the period. We also took into account the sizes of models as each frame was pre-planned with poses. Visual references and being prepared to improvise was very important.

What would you say has been your most interesting shoot do far in the UK?

I really enjoyed and I think the team enjoyed the Julien Trivedi shoot; although it was a indoor shoot, it was the concept of adding a feminine element on a menswear shoot with no female models. Jazzy Bindi worked wonders in providing us the right jewellery too and the shoot has been used for his campaign for the launch of both his new stores in Birmingham.

You’re currently in Mumbai – what have you been doing out there?

The initial thought was to create cross platform fashion appreciation, and to style shoots for Indian designers and ads were an important goal for Serpenti in India. Unfortunately due to Visa issues the production team couldn’t go out there and establish this. Therefore, Serpenti was made dormant and as I was already in india so I decided remain to carry on and started working with Lakme and Indian fashion Council in Delhi in the Wills Lifestyle Shows. I learnt how fashion in India works. Further from that, I started styling for TV serials in Mumbai with long hours and various characters to style and I eventually built a team to work with me based in India. Some of the popular serials you watch today have characters styled by myself and my team.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I was asked to work on many movies but I wanted to move away for the typical Bollywood movie. I wanted something with the scope to stand out and even move towards Hollywood. I was asked to meet a well known producer and asked to style for a his next movie and, as I started working with the team, he later offered me to manage the entire project as creative producer. We had our launch recently and will be starting the shoot on the the 5th September.

BizAsia would like to thank Agheda for taking the time out to share a little about her journey with us. Keep checking BizAsia for more about the film in question very soon.