Shalini Passi of ‘Fabulous Lives Vs Bollywood Wives’ speaks about fashion, fame, and art at Madras Art Weekend in Chennai

The fabulous lifetime of Shalini Passi
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association

Shalini Passi is a vibe. Even when she is frazzled, there’s a sense of calm about her. After her speak on Girls in Artistry on the Madras Artwork Weekend (MAW), we sit down for a chat in her suite on the Park Hyatt. Between answering calls, instructing her workers, sipping contemporary juice, and preparing for the inauguration of MAW (inside a span of half-hour I noticed her in three totally different outfits), she says, “I used to be in Doha, I landed at 3am in Chennai.”

However she is just not complaining. “I’ve at all times loved the hectic tempo of issues. I like holding my days full. I take time to strategise and suppose within the evenings,” she says. An artwork collector and philanthropist from Delhi, Shalini turned a nationwide sensation… or ought to we are saying world, after her debut this 12 months on Fabulous Lives Vs Bollywood Wives on Netflix. The attain of the present is very large, she says. “It’s telecast everywhere in the world and in addition been translated into many languages. Publish the present, it has been heart-warming to have followers come see me in motels and airports. What I felt actually proud about was the safety personnel at airports gushing over me,” she smiles.

An artwork collector, Shalini’s home in Delhi is sort of a museum
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association

This transition to tv got here at a time when Shalini was herself planning to start out a journey and artwork present. She believes that for too lengthy India has been depicted as a rustic that’s poor, backward, and with a divided society. She says she needs to showcase “an India that’s hopeful, whereas showcasing craft and design of individuals rooted in custom,” including that she travelled round India taking pictures in Leh, Ladakh, Puducherry, Mamallapuram, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and Dharamshala. However she wanted to construct her personal viewers. Which is when Karan Johar requested her if she would have an interest within the third season of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. “Every little thing has its time, and this was time to construct, and attain a bigger viewers,” she says.

And can we see her within the subsequent season? “Ask Netflix,” she smiles. Ever because the present got here out in October this 12 months, she has obtained each bouquets and brickbats. Memes about her are additionally flooding social media. “I discover them actually humorous. I didn’t suppose anybody else would discover them humorous or fascinating or relate to them. It’s loopy that 1000’s of persons are utilizing their voice and making movies,” she says.

For MAW, Shalini brings Milaaya, an embroidery atelier based by Gayatri Khanna to Chennai. It is a collaboration with MASH (a digital platform began by her that explores the intersection of artwork, structure, style, design, and craft) . ”We’re showcasing the works of Indian Fashionable Masters which have been translated into stunning embroidery by Milaaya Studio,” she says. Shalini has her coronary heart in artwork. “I needed to be an artist or an architect, and educated below painter Bishamber Khanna. I studied all of the artists I’m amassing now. Whether or not it’s Raza’s works or Husain’s strokes, while you research artwork you additionally research artwork historical past,” she explains. She says the first piece of artwork she purchased was a portray by MF Husain. Her home is now like a museum, bursting with artwork work, sculptures and installations.

Aside from artwork, she additionally has an eye fixed for style. And her selection of outfits — some over-the-top together with the Cleopatra-inspired ensemble replete with headgear, and daggers — on Fabulous Lives… is testomony to that. “My style is eclectic. It’s very me. I don’t have the intention of being the ‘it’ lady. I simply wish to put on issues I discover enjoyable” she says. And as for essentially the most outrageous outfit she has donned thus far, she says, “That’s nonetheless within the pipeline.”