When a young Nachiket Barve got inspired by the cobbler nearby and declared that he wanted to be a cobbler when he grew up, his mother’s response was: “Become a cobbler if you want. But make the best shoes in the world.”
This fearless approach has been a constant through his expansive design career, and was first instilled in him by Dr Rekha Barve. Studying medicine on a scholarship, she didn’t come from a place of privilege. “In the era that mom grew up, they were three sisters and they shared three or four saris between them. All of them had a black blouse and a white blouse to pair with each sari. What has always been inherent, perhaps, is a sense of style, which comes from being comfortable in your own skin,” shares Nachiket.
If people’s upbringing is reflected in their work, nowhere is this more visible than in Nachiket’s oeuvre. “I aim to create in both a timely and timeless manner. A lot of times, I hear people saying, ‘this looks like a Nachiket’. And I think that acknowledgement is
important for a cathartic expression of my own individuality,” he tells us.
Dr Rekha Barve is not just a paediatrician; she has also been involved in hospital administration, taken up book-keeping for Nachiket’s eponymous label and done investment and philanthropy. Being able to go with the flow and learn on the job is something the designer picked up from his mother, and this played out clearly when he got into costume design. “When he started getting offers for films, we said, ‘just do it’. Last year, he got a National Award from our Hon’ble President for his work in Tanhaji: The Warrior, and it was an incredible moment for all of us,” beams Dr Rekha Barve.
But it’s not just her integrity and empathy that Nachiket appreciates. Growing up, she was a pretty ‘cool mother’. He recounts how she would show up at his school on Friday evenings and make an excuse to bail him out. With vada pavs packed and Dr Barve behind the wheel, they would take off for road trips.
He concludes, “When we’re growing up, we see our parents as unidimensional figures and don’t really consider other aspects to their existence as people. The older we get, the more we are able to look at each other as more rounded individuals.”
PHOTOGRAPHS: Yusuf Lokhandwala
HAIR AND MAKE-UP: Courtesy of Geetanjali Salon