Behind the lens…the story of THE SANJUKTA who made Mekhela Chador GLOBAL!

Behind the lens…the story of THE SANJUKTA who made Mekhela Chador GLOBAL!

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it”. The name Mekhela Chador which only denumerable people knew has now gone viral globally. The baby steps taken by Sanjukta Dutta have resulted in the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film festival of 2019. Yes! That’s true, Sanjukta Dutta from an engineer to a fashion designer has made North-East India proud. She is a designer from Assam who is a perfect example of a successful woman of all time. Her hometown is in Nagaon district of Assam. She studied Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Assam Engineering College and after her college life, she started working as Assistant Engineer in Assam PWD for 10 long years before stepping into the world of fashion designing. Since childhood, she was very passionate about fashion designing not only on clothes but also on ethnic pieces of jewelry. Sanjukta Dutta’s first breakthrough was given by Sandeep Jalan, the owner of Sohum Shoppe situated at Guwahati was rather a luck by chance where she persuaded him to design Mekhela Chador and sell them in his outlet. This was the story that rolled back to 2012 and it turned out to be a successful one. Later on, in 2013, she setup two factories in Guwahati which were Maa Durga Axomiya Pat and Muga Kapuror Boyan Protisthon. The recent visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Assam, Sanjukta Dutta played a pivotal role where she designed for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a special Muga Angavastram which earned her international acclamation.

On 11th September 2014, Sanjukta Dutta opened up a professional commercial boutique – “Sanjukta’s Studio”. After that, she showcased her designs in various platforms like –
• Lakme Fashion Week – Four times
• Fashion Design Council of India Fashion Week – Two times
• Women’s Era Miss India.
• Mysore Fashion Week.
• India Beach Fashion Week.

The year 2018 was a year of the jewel for Sanjukta Dutta as she won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, 2018. In Mumbai, she was awarded the ‘Best Fashion Designer of The Year’ at the Dada Saheb Phalke Excellence Award 2018. Bollywood superstars ranging from Bipasha Basu to Priyanka Chopra Jonas to Dia Mirza who became showstoppers by wearing the traditional Assamese attire Mekhela Chador in many fashion weeks became the topic of discussion of the season. Sanjukta Dutta’s beginning as a fashion designer started with three looms in an atmosphere where the weaving industry had disappeared. In the year 2014, the Assam Silk Industry was diminishing rapidly. The people of Sualkuchi were moving away from the primary occupation – weaving, because of their low wages. Sualkuchi Silk Industry typically produced Assamese Silk fabrics: Muga, Pat and Eri. The weavers of that area were underpaid and they could not sustain their livelihood only on crafts and weaving and this scenario was rescued by Sanujkta Dutta where she hired three weavers and today she has 113 looms, 13 factories, 8 in Sualkuchi and 5 in Guwahati with 150 weavers which are provided with the basic amenities like food, lodging, education, and healthcare.

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Sanjukta Dutta encountered that no one knew Assam Silk so much so as to that of Chennai Silk or any other silk. She got noticed that Assam Silk is nowhere on the map and that’s the central reason she left her Public Works Department (PWD) job as an Assistant Engineer of the Government of Assam. Sanjukta Dutta has also showcased her new collection ‘Morom’– which depicts love in the Assamese at the ‘Lotus Makeup Fashion Week’ where Bollywood actress Karishma Kapoor walked the ramp for the designer as a showstopper in a Mekhela Chador. Her collection ‘Morom’ is specially designed for modern women of today in hand-woven Assam Silk, woven by the weavers of Assam. It includes a design which is the amalgamation of the tradition of Assam with modern silhouettes.

Her creations are finally reaching the Cannes Film Festival where some Hollywood celebrities have ordered for gowns to be custom-made out of traditional Assamese Silk. The 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, 2019 witnessed the top model of United Kingdom winner Ingrinda who wore a stunning gown handcrafted with Assam Silk. Ingrinda’s gown represented the land of Assam as there was implantation of small prints of Jaapis, which is one of the emblems of Assam.

Sanjukta Dutta conquered the Times Business Awards 2019 from Vidyut Jammal, Pranjal Sakia, and Purnima Pathak Sakia in the ethnic wear category Mekhela Chador by Sanjukta. Times Business Awards is one of the most prestigious award ceremony of Assam which presented Sanjukta’s Studio Tradition Redesigned: Times Best Ethnic Wear Assam 2019 to cherish her success not only in the field of fashion but also to the remarkable changes she brought to the Indian Textile Industry.

Sanjukta Dutta, a designer from the beautiful land of Assam is taking Indian culture and art to new heights by purifying and beautifying the ‘Mekhela Chador’. She has a lot of things in her pockets to embrace the region of North-East India by empowering the rural as well as the urban artisans and recollecting the Assamese handicraft industries with her remarkable designs.

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