I'm an actor, producer, and philanthropist.

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I'll be opening up my Little Black Book

and bringing you into my world.

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Another important aspect of being an actor

and being in the movie business is fashion,

so I think most obviously, in my Little Black Book today,

I'll take you through some of my thoughts on fashion

and what that means to me.

I was a model before I became an actor,

but before that, I was a badminton player,

but we'll talk about that another time.

Modeling happened to me, really,

in a way that I didn't expect.

So pay attention.

My close friend's mother was and still is

one of the most respected and successful modeling agents.

Apparently, she'd always tell my mother that

I should become a model, but it was through Anila Anand

that I did a couple of campaigns as a child,

just for the exposure and just for some fun.

I went for my first solo holiday when I was 16

and when I came back, it's that time in your life

when your parents sit you down and ask you

what you want to do with your life,

and at this point, I was a professional badminton player,

so this is when I said to them

I said, "I don't want to pursue badminton anymore,"

and that I would seriously like to pursue

modeling and acting.

I think it was that experience that then

prepared me for the movies.

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So a very, very important part of my,

I think, fashion and style evolution,

I think the first person who had a huge impact on my life

is Anaita Shroff-Adajania.

She's been a stylist with me for many, many years

and along the way, I also met, through her,

Shaleena, who's been my stylist now

for the last couple of years.

- My first film was "Love Aaj Kal," which Deepika was in.

So, when I started working in the industry,

I started working with Anaita.

Anaita was styling Deepika at that point.

That's how my journey with her started.

I started working with her as an assistant

with someone else, then I started working with her

independently, six years, six, seven years ago.

We know what the event is and then

we choose a couple of words

for what we feel that event will be.

Do want to be sexy or do we just want to be glamorous

or we just want to keep it cool,

so we try and get a little bit of a mood

and a vibe of what we want to look like for that event.

The most important is how she's feeling that day

and how she feels when she puts the outfit on

and she knows instantly, I think,

when I see her in something,

especially in the pictures that we take for the fitting,

when she likes something, she's always smiling,

if she's not sure about something,

her expression is a bit different

and I've realized that over time

when I go through my phone, 'cause my entire phone

is filled with pictures of her in our fittings,

so I know what she likes and what she doesn't like.

Deepika's personal style, actually,

I personally feel like it's changed over time.

So when I started, it was more jeans, T-shirt,

it was more basic.

Deepika also has an obsession with bags.

She likes really big bags

'cause she carries her entire house in her bag.

Any time you need anything, it can be medicine,

it can be a scissor, it can be needle and thread,

it can be anything and she will have it.

Now, I feel she's started experimenting,

like when she goes out and shops,

she'll buy some really interesting pieces,

great pieces, of course, but interesting

and I'm also like, oh, I mean,

I never thought you'd buy this.

So I think she surprises herself and she surprises me

and she's really cute when she goes shopping

'cause she's really, she's like,

"Oh, I just bought this because I thought it was nice."

So she's a little conscious to show me what she's bought,

which I think is amazing.

Her style has evolved.

She's more open to experimenting, trying new things.

She always says, "You know, it should be fun.

"It's something we should enjoy,

"we shouldn't take it too seriously."

- Over the years, exposure to magazines or social media,

even movies and through the characters that I've played,

I think they've really allowed me to understand

and embrace fashion in a very, very different way.

So nothing seems strange or weird or bizarre to me anymore.

While I believe that my inherent style is just

simple and classic and elegant,

having that exposure to the modeling world

and also being an actor has really allowed me

to play with fashion and not really box

or restrict myself anymore.

It's kind of what it's evolved into over a period of time.

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- The pink and red trend, that's one of my favorite trends.

So many people were wearing it at the Emmy's this year and

I just think those colors look so great together,

like even if you're wearing a bright pink suit

and you just do a red lip,

I think it just complements each other so well.

I mean, certain things that we've been

really working with now are bright, pop colors,

maybe bright pink and blue

and a lot of her looks have been,

like a lot of athleisure, we're doing a lot of sporty looks

with really cool sneakers, especially when she's traveling,

we put some really fun looks together,

even for her events now, we're trying to do

something a little different every time.

Using a lot of color, actually.

- The designer that I really enjoyed wearing most recently

was the neon green Giambattista Valli gown

and, in general, I feel like

I love the work that he's doing.

It's large and it's vibrant and it's colorful and

I feel like I'm going through a phase

where I really enjoy that.

- I have to say, it was a lot of pressure this year

because last year, we did a pink, Ashi dress

and we literally came back,

after we walked the red carpet and Deepika was like,

"Shal, what are you going to do next year?"

I already started feeling the pressure of it

when we started coming back to Bombay

and I was like what are we gonna do

to make it bigger in every way?

Like, in size, in the kind of coverage it got.

It just had to be wow.

How it came together, like when it was traveling,

it was still huge.

After it got ironed and opened out,

it was hanging from the ceiling

and it still wasn't fitting in the room.

And her reaction when she entered the room was like,

"Oh my God," like it was humongous,

I couldn't believe how big it was.

The great part about working with Deepika is

we work on everything together.

It's also about how she's feeling

in the moment of what she feels she wants to wear

that day because, at the end of the day,

if she feels good in what she's wearing,

it will look fantastic.

- I think the beauty of our relationship is that

we get each other, we understand each other.

We've become very, very close friends

and, today, it's not just about work,

but it's about comfort and I can look at her

or not look at her she'll understand exactly

what I'm thinking or feeling.

I think those are the relationships

that I look forward to the most in my life

because we've started from somewhere.

We almost sort of started our careers together

and she was an assistant.

To see her evolve in front of my eyes,

to see her growth, and to see her evolution makes me happy.

I feel like the journey with her is what I value the most.

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