‘I haven’t done much work, but whatever little I’ve done, I’m proud of it’

Actress Sagarika Ghatge, a much-accomplished artist who is also known for her fashion choices, gets candid with The Pioneer about her journey in the industry, acing her fashion looks, and more.
Ever since she made her debut in the entertainment industry as Preeti Sabharwal in Chak De India, there’s been something fascinating about Sagarika Ghatge that her fans cannot stop adoring. She’s been an ideal example of ‘it’s not about how much you’ve worked but making that little work speak out loud’.
“My journey in the entertainment industry has been very fulfilling,” begins the Rush actress, and she continues, “I won’t say fulfilling because I feel like I haven’t done that much work that I should have done, but it has been great. When I look back, I’ve worked with really good actors, I’ve worked with some really nice people, and I’ve made good friends. I think whatever little I’ve done, I’ve done stuff that I’m proud of. So, I think that is something I look back on and feel happy about.”
But again, one cannot stop adoring her for the way she pulls herself out so well, upping her fashion game! But what could be her mantra to keep up with her fashion game? We wondered, and she gleefully enthused, “It’s all about less is more; minimalistic.” That has been her—how she’s looked at fashion—and it has been the same ever since she was young. “I feel like people around me or the women around me have kind of inspired me to have that sort of clarity in how I see things, and I’ve stuck to that. I literally just stick to those few things, and that’s what you’ll see me wearing most of the time.”
The Chak De India star, who is also a national-level hockey player, was recently the regional showstopper at Seagram’s Longitude 77 fashion show with her hubby Zaheer Khan, and she was all excited. “Being in front of the camera is very different, and doing a show—like, being a showstopper for a fashion event showcasing Indian fashion on a global scale—is something different. Well, the show happened in Hyderabad, and she does share a great association: “I have been to Hyderabad. I’ve been a showstopper, but that was some years ago. It has been great. Hyderabad people are always lovely. Whenever Zaheer goes to Hyderabad, he always carries back some Hyderabadi food for me.”
For her, fashion is a luxury. It is a luxury when it has to be. “I feel like fashion can be a part of you, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be everything that’s expensive. So, I think you can be fashionable as long as you know what looks good on you and what you can carry. Sometimes a white t-shirt can look as fashionable as wearing something like an over-the-top dress or something like that, I feel. For me, that is, it’s not always about how much money you spend. It’s about what looks good on you and how you carry it. For me, anything that is too much breaks the outfit. I mean, even so, I have a very minimalistic style and yet make it look rich enough.”
Very classic is something she describes her fashion as. For example, “I like good cuts. I like something that is easy to wear, yet it kind of looks nice. It doesn’t have to be over-the-top. So, I feel sometimes just like a black dress with a string of pearls is as fashionable as wearing a sequined dress, for me.”
But again, “if you give me something a little too much, I feel I don’t think I can—I can’t pull it off. But probably that’s in my head, and that’s how I see fashion. But the same outfit looks great on a lot of people. So, I think at the end of the day, you need to be confident and comfortable in what you are wearing.”
“I like to experiment with what is—anything that is classic—and if I can experiment in a different way, I will definitely go ahead and do that. But the underlying factor of it will not change,” says the fashionista star, who is currently producing a film.