'Kabali' and 'Badlapur' actor Radhika Apte will be the show-stopper in the upcoming Lakme Fashion Week in the ‘Gulzar’ collections of a prominent Kolkata-based fashion designer.

“We have been working with Radhika since 'Majhi the Mountain Man' days (2015) and she will be flaunting our fabrics as show-stopper in India’s premier fashion show which is keenly followed by Bollywood," the well-known city-based woman fashion designer told media after a fashion show in a city hotel last Friday night.

The Lakme Fashion Week is a bi-annual fashion event with the summer-resort show taking place in April while the winter-festive show is held in August.

This year the winter-festive show will be held from August 24 to 28.

Radhika will be wearing bright-colored lehenga since the show will be focused on beautiful India, it’s colours and contours, choreographed with the poetry of nature by Amir Khusro, the designer said.

“It can also be termed our tribute to a great name like Gulzar saab who has brought our lyrics and poems to a new level,” the designer Saroj Jalan said.

The signature style of the designer, whose works adorn Bollywood actors like Radhika beside well known models Lisa Sharma and former Miss Universe India winner Ushoshi Sengupta, is delicate floral patterns along with the use of Zardozi and array of hand-woven tusser silk and velvet enhancing the experience of the garments and “we will project the same in the Lakme week where the accent is on ethnicity,” designer Saroj Jalan said.

Supermodel Ushoshi, having recently debuted in the Bengali film 'Egoler Chokh', said “Lakme show reflects the different tastes of all leading Indian fashion designers who are still rooted to Indian heritage.”Read more at:http://www.marieaustralia.com/short-formal-dresses | www.marieaustralia.com/red-carpet-celebrity-dresses

Radhika grew up in a poor Indian village.
She, her parents, and siblings survived
Droughts, famines, diseases, and monsoons;
Sporadic good fortune was always short-lived.

A gentlemen came to the village one day
And offered Radhika a job as a maid.
Oh, how exciting! A job in the city--
REAL work, for which she'd be paid!

Once in Mumbai, Radhika was led
To a hovel where she was brutally *****
And beaten and moved to a windowless room
At a brothel from which few girls escaped.

The poor young girl--eleven years old--
Learned very quickly how cruel life could be.
Her daily dream was to make her way home,
As soon as she found a way to flee.

Having lost years of her youth,
Radhika escaped and went home at sixteen
To parents who cast her out of the house
For being "sullied," for not being "clean."

Not knowing which way to turn--
With defeats piled on top of defeats--
Radhika returned in desperation
To the city, where she worked in the streets.

All over the world "Radhikas" exist,
But most of us never see them.
What will it take to end such cruelty?
We have to find a way to free them.

- by Bob B

Aaj Krishna khelat hori
Aaj krisna!
Dekho gopikaon ki chaal
Phenkat nandlal
Pe gulaal!
Gori radhika ke gaal
Aur balkrishna ka kapaal
Donon hi to range Hain
Laal prem ka gulaal
Aaja balika
Khelein hum daar daar pe
Phuloon ki bahaar
Rang sabke dwaar
Aanand ki bauchhar!
Aaj bajti hai
Rangon ki malhar
Are Holi hai
Mere dwaar!