Myriad designs

And now he's already on to his next project where he plans to collaborate with Mumbai-based photo journalist Pradeep Chandra to create a new designer line based on Amitabh Bachchan's pictures.

The fact is that Aggarwal, who also dabbles in fabric embroidery and home furnishing design for garment exporters, has a finger in nearly every lifestyle pie. And his six-month-old company aptly named Couture Khichdi attempts to take the ambitious Big B Collection and other similar inventive mish mash collaborative projects forward.

Though the final nod from the actor is awaited, Aggarwal is hopeful of getting the green signal. "Amitabh Bachchan is a hero of the people and is a great creative inspiration," says Aggarwal, whose forte is men's fashion.

If the deal goes through, Aggarwal says he will digitally reprint pictures of the actor taken by Chandra over the decades. Chandra currently works for The Times of India's response department in Mumbai.

Aggarwal is perhaps inspired by Chandra's recent "Tribute to a Legend" exhibition in Mumbai put together in collaboration with artists Paresh Maity and Subhash Awchat (reportedly Awchat is Bachchan's favourite painter), media personality Pritish Nandy and interior designer Pradyasaa.

For the show, Chandra digitally processed 61 pictures of the film legend. While Pritish Nandy contributed a poem on the hero of Kabhi Kabhi, Maity and Awchat added artistic impressions of the actor's larger-than-life personality.

But the Big B collection is just one of the things in the pipeline. For Aggarwal, a NIFT graduate with a pattern making degree, is launching his pret line collection for retail stores like Raymond's Be, Shopper's Stop and Pyramid.

He will also sell through stores like Deepak Shah's More Mischief in Pune and The 7 Lounge in Chennai. "Most designers have launched pret lines but price their products at Rs 1,500 and above. How do you call that a pret line?" he asks. Aggarwal's cotton and silk lines start at Rs 399 and Rs 999, respectively.

Besides, Aggarwal, who also studied diamond jewellery design at Antwerp's Hooge Raad Diamante, is also designing jewellery for a couple of prominent jewellery houses in South-east Asia. He is also displaying his home furnishings range and pret collection at Taj Coromandel in Chennai in December as well as in other cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore in the south.

"Since my price points are sensitive, I've to see that I sell in volumes," he adds. Besides Aggarwal is also tying up with a senior advertising professional "for whacky ideas" to make Couture Khichdi stand on its feet.