Correspondent Liyakat Shah
New Delhi, March 16, 2020: Known for his golden voice, Daler Mehndi took on a different role last night when he wore Sulakshana Monga’s creation as a showstopper at Bombay Times Fashion Week. Daler has continually reinvented his style over the years from long maharaja robes to bright short jackets to Patiala Salwan’s and kurtas, dhoti salwar and short jackets, to Kitsch jackets to Dakhlas. He has had designers like Manish Arora, Neeta Lulla craft his stylish robes for him. It has been Daler’s wife Taran Mehndi who has been styling him since Ho Jayegi Balle Balle. The Sardar of Swing and India’s first Pop Icon set trends in the mid-nineties with not only his pathbreaking music but also his style – bejewelled turban, trendy jewellery and long flowing robes. He not only made bhangra sound and look cool but also the turban clad men. The Sikhs owe colourful turbans to him, in fact, he single-handedly made turbans look sassy and cool, so much so that every Bollywood actors like Akshay, Anil Kapoor, Johnny Lever, wore turbans and bold coloured jackets and long robes in their films and tours. His sense of style has been honoured by the style magazine Elle by conferring on him the title of the Most Stylish Person in Music award. Mehndi is the only Indian Artist whose costume worn at the iconic You Fest in Madrid Spain graces the prestigious Indian Music Experience Museum in Bangalore for posterity.
