More is definitely more. Ask our celebs. A box office super-hit or a back-to-back win in the sporting arena is no longer enough to fill their pockets. There is this constant urge to go beyond, to cash in on their brand value, to do more. And it is not about setting up a retirement nest. Virat Kohli, who easily has at least five more years of cricket in him, is launching one brand after another. Bollywood top celebs and even almost-newbies such as Deepika Padukone and Bhumi Pednekar respectively, are not shying away from launching their labels in collaboration with established fashion houses. Of course, there are also those such as Katrina Kaif and Jacqueline Fernandez who are coming up with either their own beauty lines, as in the case of Katrina, or collaborating with beauty moguls, such as Jacqueline.
Building a celeb empire as a trend really took off in the West. To many such as Robert De Niro and the Beckhams, it was a means of a nice little retirement investment. For those such as the Kardashians, Lady Gaga and Rihanna, it was all about going beyond their brand worth and connecting with their fans in countless other ways. Did it pay off? You bet it did. De Niro’s upmarket Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant, Nobu, is set to hit $1 billion by 2023 with its first foray into the condo market boasting 660 units and 36 luxury-hotel suites in Toronto. Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty Line has produced revenue of more than $100 million in the last few months alone. Next, the Beckhams. By the last count, the former Spice Girl—Victoria—earned a whopping $450 million with her massive fashion empire.
While we drool over these humongous figures, let us check out where our celebrities stand. For starters, in India, investment has not always worked out well for our stars. Remember Amitabh Bachchan and his ABCL production house? The megastar incurred huge debts to the tune of `90 crore and went bankrupt in 2000. He had to sign films, left, right, and centre to pay off all the debts. That was his downhill moment which was finally arrested by the TV hot series Kaun Banega Crorepati. He once said in an interview, “In 2000, when the entire world was celebrating the new century, I was celebrating my disastrous fortune. There were no films, no money, no company, a million legal cases against the company and the tax authorities had put notice of recovery on my home.” The bubbly Preity Zinta faced more or less the same situation when her production house went bankrupt. She was finally bailed out by good friend Salman Khan.
Even though there is always this danger of an investment working or going kaput, it is a dangerous game that attracts anyone who has money. Investing in or starting your own production house is passé in Bollywood, where it has become yet another means of getting a larger share of the pie and having creative control over your film. Anyone in the film industry with enough money is doing it. But again there is the lure of wanting more.
Needless to say, collaborations are happening across platforms—largely in fashion and beauty—as these two are the things we identify a star with. Also, a star launching a fashion label or beauty line is assured of grabbing eyeballs, or at least enough buyers from the teen/college brigade who will actually love to flaunt their stars’ favourite eye shadow or biker jacket. How much are all the celebs raking in? As per a recent Forbes India report, Virat’s One8 Commune may touch `185 crore by the end of fiscal 2020. With her brand Rheson and another named Bhane co-owned by her husband, Anand, Sonam K Ahuja is expected to take home a cool `38 crore this year. Shefalee Vasudev, editor at The Voice of Fashion, calls it strategic thinking. “The Indian consumer wants to buy something endorsed by a celebrity. This is a good business move, because it is smart to supply what the consumer wants. The celebs are putting this logic to use.”
Here They Come
Little wonder that a cricketing genius like Virat Kohli is almost on a permanent launch move ever since he launched his restaurant Nueva in his home city Delhi a few years ago. Virat also recently launched youth fashion line Wrogn, and One8 Commune that cater to both fashion and the services industry with a resto-pub in Delhi. The food is curated by Chef Sabyasachi Gorai and Chef Pawan Bist. The menu also takes cues from Virat’s personal journeys and food experiences, creating a holistic culinary space for all types of foodies. Says Ankit Tayal, Owner and Partner, One8 Commune, “We wanted to create a space that is synonymous with comfort, for an audience that prefers spending time with their loved ones or in groups and are looking to enhance their everyday experience.
This place is for an evolved audience.” At the same time, Virat’s wife—Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma—has her own fashion label—Nush. Keeping the price at a realistic `699 to `3,500, the brand hopes to tap the everyday college-going girl or working woman. Nush recently launched a new collection roping in the Indian comic book character ‘Chacha Chaudhary’. An almost newbie such as Bhumi Pednekar, who is less than 10 films old in the industry, also has her own fashion line in collaboration with the apparel brand Raisin. The actor, who recently bagged a Filmfare for her role in Saand ki Aankh, says, “The brand stands for the new-age Indian girl, someone who is independent; looking for her freedom, fun yet traditional in her essence and that resonates with me completely.”
Building on their existing brand is the name of the game. It also gives the celebs a chance to diversify outside their portfolios and do something they are passionate about—food, fashion, beauty, accessories and more. After all, nothing sells like success. At the same time, the most important thing is to remain relevant in the public eye. Couturier Rimple Narula, who has dressed up some of the top Bollywood names, believes, “The premise of collaborations lies in the fact that the saleability of the label escalates the moment a film celebrity endorses it. Also, the youth of this country follow Bollywood celebrities blindly. Keeping this in mind, the labels don’t mind spending a bit to rope in a big face. The celebs, too, have an incentive. It’s a commercially driven association that is triggered by the thirst to do more even while exploiting the brand image they have created for themselves.” But it’s not always smooth-sailing. Consumers in India are extremely product-savvy; she says and adds that long-term success is only achievable if the product is good. “Hollywood celebrities who have built fashion, food and beauty
empires are way more involved, aware and passionate about the work that goes in. Celebs here have to take this responsibility seriously because they hold the power to inspire. They should get more involved in the business than just lending their names,” she says. In a country like India where youngsters constantly aspire to be like their idols, keeping a celeb fashion line or beauty line cost-effective is half the market won, literally. Take, for instance, Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif’s beauty brand Kay Beauty, launched in partnership with India’s largest beauty retailer, Nykaa. In an effort to grab the maximum eyeballs, it was introduced in an unprecedented pan-India manner across 50 Nykaa stores and on the Nykaa website and app. Promising high-performance, long-lasting, ultra-glam makeup, the price range starts from an enviable `249. Also, to get the youth on board, the products were marketed online with the hashtag—MakeupThatKares.
The Bharat actor says, “As a person, I’m very demanding of myself, always pushing for more. Kay Beauty has been created with this same rigour.” Former Miss Universe Lara Dutta decided to bottle her beauty knowledge and launch her own brand, Arias. Global makeup mogul, Huda Kattan, recently took to Instagram to announce a collaboration with Bollywood actor of Sri Lankan origin, Jacqueline Fernandez. The two had earlier worked on a line of fake lashes. And if fashion and beauty are conquered, can jewellery be far behind? Anil Kapoor’s film producer daughter, Rhea, launched her jewellery line a few days ago in collaboration with the very youth-centric label Pipa Bella. With her signature edgy pieces modelled by sister Sonam, she is already acing the style game.
Been There, Done That
Toasted more for her sartorial spin than her acting prowess, it was only a matter of time before actor Sonam extended her expertise to the world of fashion. A sound decision considering she is one Bollywood actor who can give the stylists a run for their money. With the launch of her fashion label Rheson, the celebrity finally turned businesswoman with her sister Rhea. The quirky, affordable, daily wear apparel brand has been well-received since it was launched with Shoppers Stop. The two sisters were apparently extremely involved in designing the clothes, understanding market economics before taking the plunge. Said Sonam when Rheson was launched, “Fashion, especially fast fashion, is very consumer-based. At the same time, I like to attach some authenticity to it. My sister and I truly believe in not doing any work half-heartedly; there’s no ‘okay we have a formula and this is what is going to sell’. We like to create designs that are original, that we would wear ourselves, and that we think would sell well.” While celebrity-designer collaborations have been popular in the West for a while, the trend picked up in India, a few years ago.
“It’s such a natural fit, considering the fan-following these celebrities have,” says Malini Agarwal, founder of fashion and lifestyle blog, MissMalini. So you had the very flamboyant Karan Johar design the Marquee collection for European fashion brand Vero Moda, which drew inspiration from high-street trends and haute couture. If not the birth of consolidated labels, fast fashion brands have been using celebrity stardust as one of their marketing ploys. Karan who often designed costumes for his films wanted to test the waters in the fashion trade through this collaboration. “I have used films as an outlet to showcase my own sense of fashion which is luxurious, grand yet functional at the same time. This was an attempt to do it commercially and see how the larger market responds to it,” said Karan during the launch. With Nush, an apparel brand that tailors international high street fashion to Indian tastes, Anushka grew closer to her fan club even as she wore the entrepreneurial feather on her cap. The fashion label had Anushka involved in the project for four years, because it is, according to her, an amalgam of her personality, her style sense and her desire to make the brand an everyday part of people’s lives.
That she takes this venture rather seriously is evident in how she is marketing her ware. “Although the collection is entirely western wear for women, the idea is that it should be easy, everyday clothes for everybody. You don’t have to make too much effort to look nice and our aim is to make fashion accessible in terms of prices and style,” says the actor. Deepika Padukone, the country’s highest paid female actor, seems to be a pro when it comes to fashion collaborations. Be it when she tied up with Van Heusen to present a limited-edition collection or when she showcased her western-wear creations in collaboration with French design agency, Carlin, and also Indian site Myntra, clearly, it was a smart move for her All About You brand.
What about food? Will fans eat something simply because their favourite celeb headlines the brand? With people travelling all over the world and coming back with food memories they’d like to relive in their own countries, it gives a good reason for entrepreneurs to launch F&B outlets. Instances abound in Indian cricket. Sachin Tendulkar launched Tendulkar’s in collaboration with well-known hotelier Sanjay Narang. The closure followed two years after his café, named Sachin’s, shut down due to poor response. “It didn’t end up the way we had expected,” Tendulkar admitted. Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly’s restaurant too had a similar fate. Sourav’s—The Food Pavilion in Kolkata shut shop in a city that literally worships Ganguly. His brother Snehashish Ganguly rued, “We were not getting time to run it properly.”
Suniel Shetty, the actor known more for his brawn than his on-screen abilities, has one business brain up there. He invested in Pune-based online fitness community, Squats, which has, since its inception, driven more than 70,000 paid fitness transformations and has built a strong, highly-engaged online community of five lakh members. Probably this success drove another Shetty, this time a long-legged one—Shilpa—to don the cap of a yoga and fitness expert during the fag end of her film career. Not exactly a very commercially successful film star, Shilpa found fame in her second coming. Brand collaborations and several endorsements later, she clearly is the Gwyneth Paltrow of India today, channelling her love for a fit and toned body to inspire women all across the country.
Measure of Closeness
“How much a star is involved in the creative process of design is not a matter of opinion but of fact-checking. Personally, I have never been interested in how much time Katrina or Deepika spend in creating these products. Generally, an overall brief, a broad canvas is discussed with the star on what he or she stands for. That’s the basis,” says Shefalee. Does that mean it is someone else ghost-designing? Textile revivalist Vidhi Singhania believes that celebrities tie up with fashion and beauty labels because this is a good way to test waters if they want to start something on their own in the future. Also, while they may want to be involved in a much greater capacity in the business, their work and schedules hardly allow them enough time to do so. Both Karan and Kangana Ranaut (who was the muse for Vero Moda) were involved in the creative process from Day One. “Be it the kind of silhouettes, the fabrics to be used, how casual the collection needed to be or how the final garment looked on a model, the celebs were part of every step,” says Vineet Gautam, country head, Vero Moda, adding, “Every look was sent to them for feedback.” Touted to be India’s first celebrity beauty brand, Kay Beauty, had Katrina involved creatively. Founder and CEO Falguni Nayar of Nykaa claims that it took almost two years for the team and Katrina to work and arrive at the products. All said and done, celeb power is attractive. And collaborators and buyers are not complaining.
With inputs from Sharmi Adhikary
VIRAT KOHLI
Brands Nueva, One8 Commune, Wrogn
One8, co-created with Puma, has already crossed the Rs 100-crore mark. The cricketer earned Rs 252.72 crore last year from all his business ventures, endorsements and sports deals put together.
Katrina Kaif
Brand Kay Beauty
It is still too early to say how much moolah will this actor, whose net worth last year was Rs 128 crore, rake in for her beauty line
Deepika Padukone
Brand All About You
Her investments, including her fashion label, amount to Rs 35 crore
SHILPA SHETTY Kundra
Brands Bastian Hospitality, Mamaearth
Invested Rs 1.6 crore each in Bastian and mom-baby care startup, Mamaearth
Suniel Shetty
Invested in the Pune-based online fitness community that since its inception has driven more than 70,000 health transformations
Anushka Sharma
Brand Nush
Derived from her first name, Nush’s clothing line was made available on Myntra, which was completely sold out on the first day itself
Sonam K Ahuja Rhea Kapoor
Brands Rheson, Bhane, Pipa Bella
The sisters’ net worth is estimated at around `100 crore-plus. Besides films, their investments rake in around Rs 45 crore.
Sachin Tendulkar
Brands Musafir.Com, Smaaash
Smaaash is eyeing US investments worth Rs 175-200 crore. He also owns a 26% stake in brand extension and celebrity merchandise firm Universal Collectabillia.
Bhumi Pednekar
Brands: Raisin (Collaboration)
“The brand stands for the new-age Indian girl, someone who is independent; looking for her freedom, fun yet traditional in her essence,” is how she describes her label.
BIPASHA BASU
Brand The Label Life
She has her own fitness module that is followed by millions. She also designed brogues in new metallic hues for The Label Life, which soon turned into bestsellers on the site.
Jacqueline Fernandez
Brands Huda Beauty,
RAW Pressery Became India’s first celebrity to finance a consumer goods company by investingRs 3.5 crore in Mumbai-based RAW Pressery
KARAN JOHAR
Brand Marquee
Before collaborating with Vero Moda, Karan was already costume designer for Amitabh Bachchan in Mohabbatein and for Shah Rukh Khan in Veer-Zaara and Dil To Pagal Hai
KANGANA RANAUT
Brand Vero Moda (Collaboration)
Edgy, yet classy, is how fashion gurus described this collection that is priced upwards of Rs 2,295