When he made ‘Mogambo’ happy: Designer Agasti shares anecdotes on costume in book

Designer Madhav Agasti received Rs 35,000 for Amrish Puri's iconic 'Mogambo' costume, which he designed in seven days using the latest embroidery machine and was ecstatic on seeing it for the first time. The actor gleefully remarked, 'Mogambo... khush hua', as recounted in his memoir.

Agasti, 76, shares several such anecdotes in his book Stitching Stardom: For Icons, On and Offscreen as he recounts his five-decade-long career during which he also designed a variety of attires for politicians and leaders like PV Narasimha Rao, Pranab Mukherjee, Ram Nath Kovind, LK Advani, Balasaheb Thackeray and Farooq Abdullah among several others.

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Career in Bollywood

He designed costumes for over 350 Bollywood films. He made Puri's costume for Rs 25,000, but producer Boney Kapoor loved it so much that he increased the remuneration by Rs 10,000 on seeing the final ensemble.

For their project Mr India, director Shekhar Kapur and Kapoor walked into Agasti's shop in 1985. Briefing on the role of the villain, he was specifically told that Puri should look both Western as well as an Indian zamindar (landlord).

"It was not an easy task, though. Getting the 'mixed look' right meant I had to do a lot of research - going through foreign magazines, newspaper clippings, and encyclopaedias on film history," Agasti recalls.

He finally opted for an all-black coat with a golden monogram and complemented that with a long frilled shirt and big shoes to give Puri the look of an autocratic and merciless 'foreigner' while the breeches added the Zamindar touch. Agasti had told Kapur that he would reveal the outfit only on the sets.

"Puri's first sentence at RK Studios in Chembur when he saw the costume was 'Mogambo… khush hua!' -the iconic line he said in 'Mr India'. His approval meant a lot to me," he says.

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7 days to make a costume

"It took me seven days to make the costume. I bought the latest embroidery machine then and made it for Rs 25,000 in my Bandra store," Agasti writes, adding that Kapur loved the costume and increased the remuneration by Rs 10,000 on seeing the dress.

Agasti says his memoir, published by Penguin, is his way of sharing the story of his life - how he struggled, learned, grew, and adapted through the many phases in his life and changes in the tailoring and design industry.

Born in Nagpur on October 24, 1949, Agasti moved to Gwalior in 1967. From there, he moved to Delhi, Moradabad, Aligarh, a few places in Odisha and then to Kolkata before settling in Mumbai in 1973.

It was Yash Chopra who opened the doors for him in the Hindi film industry. Chopra entrusted him with considerable work, leading to collaborations with actors like Anil Kapoor and Saeed Jaffrey.

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Attire for politicians

The designer mentions one day in the winter of 1984, when then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was at the Delhi airport with friends and fellow politicians, Sharad Pawar and NKP Salve.

"Out of the blue, he noticed Salve's bandhgala — designed by me — and said he was mighty impressed with its look and cut. After probing further, he expressed a desire to get something stitched from me. Abdullah was ecstatic when he was told that I was at the airport too," the book says.

Within minutes of being introduced to Abdullah, Agasti took him to the VIP lounge at the airport to note down his measurements there.

"I first made a sherwani for him. He loved it so much that I followed that with a suit, a pathani, a safari, and a kurta; he remains my client to date," he writes.

Agasti says his relationship with politicians was organic — often one contact led to the other, and they would feel comfortable getting their clothes designed by him after the initial experience.

He also worked with politicians like Balasaheb Thackeray, Jawaharlal Darda, Sushilkumar Shinde, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, PC Alexander, LK Advani, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Manohar Joshi, and Narayan Rane. He stitched a kurta-pyjama, a shawl and a kurta-lungi for Thackeray.

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'Politicians are best paymasters'

"Once I asked Abdullah to send an off-white Kashmiri shawl. The Jammu and Kashmir leader sent that and an additional saffron-coloured one as well. I gave that to Balasaheb, who was thrilled to bits." Agasti says contrary to popular perception, politicians are among the best paymasters — not a single leader has ever negotiated rates with him.

He also designed for PV Narasimha Rao, who liked a silk dhoti-kurta combination with a shawl. Sometimes, he would insist on silk jackets.

"His favourite colour was cream, and he would want his kurta in that shade to go with a white dhoti. When it came to jackets, he preferred brown tones. Whenever he would go on his foreign visits, he would ask me to design bandhgala suits for him. He enjoyed wearing those," Agasti writes.

He also gave Advani a three-button jacket and that eventually became his patent style.

He writes that when Pranab Mukherjee became the president in 2012, he was asked to design a sherwani for his oath-taking ceremony.

Though his son also bought a sherwani for him, Mukherjee insisted he would only wear what Agasti made. Mukherjee's successor, Ram Nath Kovind, and another president Zail Singh were also Agasti's clients.