A board certified dentist, a famous and well lauded couturier, a trained classical dancer, a theatre actor, writer and director, a painter, a motivational speaker and a teacher - he doesn’t dabble in these fields. Ganesh Nallari’s professional journey from the time he was a dentist to studying design and carving himself a niche in the Indian fashion industry, has been an inspiration to many. Ganes
h has a list of prestigious degrees and awards conferred upon him- a Bachelors in Dental Surgery, a Postgraduate Diploma in Textile Design and Development from NIFT, and a Master of Arts in Fashion Design from Domus Academy, Milan. He was awarded a Gold medal for academic excellence with community service from his excellency the President of India Dr. A. Abdul Kalam at the NIFT convocation in 2005 and was a finalist at the European Silk Awards held in Como, Italy in 2006. The maverick designer and artist founded Chic Pea Studios Pvt. whose activities span fashion, textile design, costume design, styling and photo shoots, theatre and film production. His fashion clothing brand “GANESH NALLARI” is synonymous with high-quality apparel and accessories, specializing in wedding clothing for women, men and an exclusive line of kids wear. The brand’s objective is to deliver products that are made with utmost attention and detailing on par with international standards. The brand uniqueness lies in its approach towards adapting classic Indian art forms into chic futuristic urban designs. Ganesh balances all his interests gracefully and channelizes the energy he gets from them into designing soulful and fashionable clothing. Ganesh Nallari is regularly invited to speak and teach at prestigious institutes of fashion like NIFT and Woxen School of Arts and Design. He has been juror at several fashion events like Pantaloons Femina Miss India and Hyderabad Times Fresh Face. He presented his handloom collection, "Vaibhavam", at Surajkund International Crafts Mela, sponsored by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. His collection “Amma’s wedding saree” & “Madhyamaka” at the Bangalore Fashion Week got rave reviews and rated among the best collections that season. Film, Dance & Theatre
Ganesh Nallari designed for several movies and television shows down south like Jhummandi Nadam, Mr. Perfect, Life is Beautiful, Prematho Mee Lakshmi, Malayalee house among many others. His clients include famous movie stars like Amala Akkineni, Revathi, Taapsee Pannu, Lakshmi Manchu, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Sonu Sood, Manoj Manchu and has the credit of giving makeover to Olympic gold medalist P.V. Ganesh has trained in Kuchipudi from Guru Dr. Usha Rani at a young age and went on to learn Bharatanatyam from Guru Padmashree Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant. He assisted in the choreography of the Afro-Asian Games held in 2003 in Hyderabad and performed at the prestigious Konark Dance Festival and several other dance festivals in Chennai, Hyderabad and New Delhi. Ganesh's love for dance and theatre made him take up costume and set designing for various contemporary and classical dance productions, like Ananda Shankar Jayant's “Tales of the Bull and the Tiger”, "Dancing Tales- Panchatantra", "Sacred number 108", "Darshanam - An ode to the Eye", "Kaavyanjali- An ode to Gurudev", Alekhya Punjala's “Mandodari”, "Rudrama Devi" and Deepika Reddy's "Jaya ho Golconda" to name a few. The costumes he designed for Junaid Ullah's "Miss Prophet" was the highlight of the play. Ganesh’s association with theater is multitudinous- he acts, writes, designs and directs plays. His play ‘Mudra-the silent gesture,' in particular, won several hearts. He has also acted in and directed several plays with esteemed theatre groups in Hyderabad. Ganesh fights limitations - both societal and personal. He doesn’t ever define himself by his past. Pigeonholing Ganesh is futile because he has an agile mind and a deep thirst for redefining himself constantly. His childhood was fraught with trauma and his young adulthood was marred by him having to hide his sexual orientation. However, neither difficulty defined him ever. He is a prolific motivational speaker and is a strong presence at various sensitization programs on child abuse, LGBT issues and empowerment. Amongst his varied tour de force are TEDx talk (“Design your life by working on your strengths”), Talks at Google (“Good As You”) and a documentary film "unSPOKEN", which, through a painting, initiates a dialogue to end the silence and denial related to child sexual abuse and encourages healing by building one’s strengths. The maiden documentary film produced by Chic Pea Studios Pvt. is written, narrated and visualized by Ganesh Nallari. The documentary won a Merit Special Mention Award at The IndieFilm Fest, in San Diego, Documentary short Gold and Narrative Gold at International Independent Film Awards 2017 in California, Audience choice award and Best Documentary Non-fiction award at Direct Short Online Film Festival 2017 and won a consolation prize at Online International Short Film Festival 2017 at Pune. The National Film Archive of India has preserved the film in their library.
'Abhimanyu', one of the four short stories of the 2011 National award-winning anthology film 'I Am' is inspired and based on the experiences of Ganesh Nallari. Ganesh was featured in Aamir Khan’s show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ in 2012 in the episode that spread awareness on child sexual abuse. He was invited as the speaker by the Telangana State police on the eve of World Day for Prevention of Abuse and Violence Against Children. He also volunteered on an awareness campaign on child sexual abuse aiming to reach out to all the districts in the State of Telangana. A firm believer in living harmoniously with contradictions, Ganesh applies the same to his arts. He explores the seen and unseen through his art and brings his varied experiences of life to it. His focus is profound. His knowledge is deep. And his capabilities are vast. Which is why he has been able to garner so many qualifications and accolades at his age. He is inspiring to many because of the obstacles he has overcome, but Ganesh is more than the sum of his successes. He is quintessentially a person who seeks to be the best version of himself that he can be. That quest is what he communicates - everyday - through everything he does.
