The growing years in a fashion biz

All of 18, Ayesha Kapur is already the face of a growing fashion accessories brand.

The little girl who played a blind and hearing-impaired child in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2005 film Black is today a confident teenager, who was in Chennai recently for the opening of Ayesha Accessories’ 27th store. Settling down for a quick chat, her replies come in quick and straight from the heart, but she still likes to have her mother, Jacqueline, around to help her whenever she fumbles for words. And that is not too often.

“We are a team. It is so exciting to be part of a business, although I haven’t fully started to understand the business side,” says Ayesha, who is involved in designing and trend research at the company.

Although finances and strategy may not interest her now, business runs in her family (her father, Dilip, is the founder of leather goods manufacturer Hidesign, while her German mother owns and runs the Casablanca store in Puducherry). While Ayesha is unsure about the revenue her brand fetches (she turns to Jacqueline, the managing director and co-founder, for help), she is all too aware about fashion.

“This is my main job: Understanding what young people like. My inspiration comes from being a young, modern girl and travelling around Paris, walking through streets in India, or even in boarding school in America, where I study.”

In love with the fashion style of the TV series Gossip Girl , she has two months of high school left. Though she has applied to 16 universities (for an acting and writing course), she plans to take a year off from studies to live in Mumbai. “I want to focus on my accessories brand, and also learn Hindi; this is so important to be in Bollywood, which is where I want to be,” she says.

After Black , the young award-winning actor disappeared from movies for a while before returning in a short film called Sana and a mainstream film, Sikander , in 2009.

After playing such intense roles at an early age, she is now eager to do a “full-on commercial film”. She loves horse-riding and thinks a film with horses would be “good fun”.

Asked if she had any favourite Bollywood actor, she declines to name anyone, although her mum prods her to mention Ranbir Kapoor.

Meanwhile, she is raring with ideas for her fashion brand. “We plan to expand Unknown, our range for boys. We are just starting a kids’ range too. We want to connect with young people on social media.”