Luxury Brands Need Better Strategies for Bollywood. Here’s Why.

Global brands are hungry for a bigger slice of India’s $30 billion luxury market but they aren’t exploiting the country’s giant film enterprise to its full potential.
MUMBAI, India — “I’ve got it all, Jimmy Choo and Manolo, Prada, Galliano. Can’t get enough. I choose greater and more… Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney, Donatella Versace. I use a bag from Gucci.”
The lyrics from the music featured in the 2012 Bollywood movie “Student of The Year” genuinely aren’t subtle but they say a lot about the appetite for luxurious in the Indian market.
The coming of age romantic comedy used to be chock full of luxury fashion brands: its girl lead Shanaya, performed by means of Alia Bhatt, carried a Hermès Birkin as her go-to accessory. Its sequel —released in May — styled its primary characters in Off-White and A Bathing Ape.
“The synergy of cinema and luxury brands clearly works in India,” says Manish Malhotra, a veteran fashion designer in his very own proper and the costume director of both hits.
It is India’s film enterprise — no longer Hollywood’s — that is the largest in the world. According to Deloitte, it produces 2,000 films a 12 months in 20 unique languages and used to be valued at 14,684 crore rupees ($2.3 billion) in 2017. Going forward, the enterprise is forecasted to reach 20,060 crore rupees ($3.1 billion) through 2022.
As India’s movie enterprise grows, so too does the possibility it affords to world trend brands in phrases of product placement, pink carpet dressing and collaborating with costume designers. Yet global trend brands — to their detriment — are nevertheless missing out.