A procession of dhamal dancers clad in red chogas whirls through dust and rhythm. Ghungroos echo against the sound of a distant daf and five women appear like figures from a forgotten epic. Draped in embroidered anarkalis, heirloom-owrthy jewellery by Kohinoor Jewellery and cascading dupattas, they move through a world suspended between myth and memory. This is the visual language of ‘Malka’, Torani’s most ambitious campaign yet. This is Torani’s Malka… six years in the dreaming, months in the making and unlike anything Indian fashion has attempted before. With Huma Qureshi, Nimrat Kaur, Radhikka Madan, Pratibha Ranta and Fatima Sana Shaikh as its five queens, the campaign unfolds as a cinematic Sufi musical.
Part musical, part visual narrative and part cultural archive, the campaign draws deeply from the poetic world of Shah Jo Risalo, the revered body of work by Sindhi Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. I caught up with designer Karan Torani behind the label and actor Huma Qureshi to find out how Malka came to life.
The First Vision
For designer Karan, the project was not a fleeting idea but a vision that evolved over years. “I have been dreaming of Malka since 2020. This campaign has been a vision I have nurtured for over six years, and it is deeply personal to me. Growing up, I have always been connected to my Sindhi roots, and I have been fascinated by Sindhi culture, traditions, and folklore. While so much of it exists only in memory and oral traditions, the stories have always stayed with me. I have also been drawn to Punjabi folklore, with its rich oral narratives, ritual practices, and vibrant visual traditions.”
This intersection of cultural memory forms the philosophical backbone of Malka. Rather than retelling historical narratives literally, Karan reimagines the poetic heroines through a contemporary cinematic lens. The campaign focuses on five of the seven legendary women celebrated in Shah Jo Risalo book of poetry. Each queen becomes an archetype linked to the Pancha Mahabhutas, the five classical elements of Indian cosmology. “His work preserves the lives, loves, and trials of women who navigate loyalty, longing, and courage. These stories, while rooted in Sindhi and Punjabi folklore, resonate across the subcontinent. In the campaign, Huma Qureshi represents Marvi, whose story celebrates resilience and love for one’s land; Radhikka Madan represents Moomal, a figure of devotion and inner strength; Pratibha Ranta takes on Leelan as Laila, portraying both her fiery passion and fearless spirit; Nimrit Kaur represents Sohni from Sohni Mahiwal, the story of love against all odds; and Fatima Sana Shaikh portrays Sahiba from Mirza Sahiba, a narrative of choice and courage.”
For Huma Qureshi, the invitation to step into Marvi’s world was never just about wearing a magnificent costume. The actor, who has navigated various projects, reads every script through the same lens. “I think that confidence comes from loving storytelling and understanding the crux of the roles you play,” she reveals. “I’ve never approached my work thinking about screen time or ownership of a moment. For me, it’s always been about whether the story moves me. Sometimes that means leading a project, sometimes it means being part of a larger canvas. If the narrative is strong and the character has truth, I’m happy to be a piece of that world.” With Malka, she found a character she couldn’t help but inhabit. “I can’t switch off the actor in me,” she says. “The inspiration of Malka, a woman who refuses power because her roots matter more, is incredibly powerful. I imagined her quiet strength, her connection to the land and her sense of self. That inner conviction shaped how I held myself here.”
Fashioned In Folklore
The garments themselves are a civilisation’s worth of memory, compressed into silk and craft. Karan and his team spent months in museum archives, studying architectural motifs, regional embroidery traditions, and the specific silhouettes associated with different courts and communities across the subcontinent. “Angarkhas and anarkalis reflect Persian and Mughal aesthetics; shararas and ghararas are rooted in North Indian and Deccan traditions; and lehengas, choghas, and anghiyas highlight ceremonial and festive forms across India,” says Karan. “Each garment is designed with meticulous attention to historical and regional accuracy,” Karan reinstates. “The colour palette, vibrancy, and motifs are inspired by the flow of the Indus River and the regions it traverses — Punjab, Gujarat, and northern India — creating a visual journey that reflects the geographic and cultural diversity of the subcontinent.”
The colours reject every muted, greige instinct of current fashion in favour of deep crimson, emerald, indigo, purple, emerald and ochre. For brides, the allure lies precisely in this intersection of storytelling and craft. The jewellery, created in Torani’s first-ever collaboration with a jewellery house Kohinoor Jewellers, played a central role too. “Custom-designed by Milind and Ankita Mathur, every piece was inspired from regional traditions, historic forms, and symbolic motifs. The jewellery reflects the material culture of the regions represented and is a crucial part of conveying the stories of each queen,” explains Karan.
For Huma, the act of dressing became a form of transformation. “Costumes can change the way you carry your body and your energy,” she says. “The jewellery, the headpieces, the textures — they all had a certain regality but also a sense of history. Once I wore them, it almost naturally shifted my posture and helped me step into that world. I truly believe you can be the part when you look at it and both need to go hand-in-hand,” the actor reveals.
The Final Frame
What makes Malka unlike any Indian fashion campaign before it is not the scale, though the scale is staggering, but the philosophical framework it borrows from Sufi thought. This is not a love story in the conventional sense. In the Sufi tradition that Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai wrote within, love is not possession, but dissolution. “Those emotions are so universal and timeless,” Huma reflects on the themes of longing and devotion that run through Malka. “When a story explores longing or separation, it taps into something very human. As actors, we draw from that emotional depth to make the performance feel lived-in and honest. This is the most vulnerable and rawest form of human emotion and I think it’s a part of everything we do.”
The shoot itself unfolded during Mumbai’s peak monsoon, between August and September. In retrospect, it feels almost fated. The making of Malka mirrored the philosophy of Malka to surrender control, trust the process and let the thing arrive when it is ready. “Malka is the most ambitious project we have undertaken to date,” Karan says. “It is a convergence of fashion, storytelling, dance, music, jewellery and design at a scale never attempted before. What makes this project unique is the way it bridges folklore, history, and contemporary design.” For Huma, working across formats, from cinema to campaigns like this, has only deepened her appetite for exactly this kind of work. “It’s made me far more open and curious,” she says. “Moving across formats has shown me that great storytelling can exist anywhere. When something fuels my purpose, I give my best.”
For more information:
Torani
www.Torani.in
