“From Slum to Fashion Icon: Malisha Kharwa’s Inspiring Journey”

# Own author

BaAbout five puppets are lined up on wooden planks inside a ramshackle house in the last slum of Ndra Bandstand. Dolls with brown and black hair and multi-colored dresses for less than fifty rupees. Those dolls were everything to a girl named Malisha Kharwa.

After the palchai that her father made once a week and running around the street with her friends, her only joy was the dolls. Malisha’s pastime was preparing it and combing her hair. She dreamed that one day she would become a model like those dolls. A beautiful model like Priyanka Chopra.

But it was not that easy. She had never seen a branded dress. Never wore a single dress costing more than Rs.200. Growing up without a mother, her only support was her father and younger brother. There is no one to braid her hair and make her beautiful, even to bathe her and paint her eyes. She walked the streets of Bandra for days wearing a tattered banyan and a tattered tracksuit. After getting a little older and doing everything by herself, she bathed every day she got water, tied her own hair, and went to school in her uniform.

Hollywood actor Robert Hoffman becomes the turning point in Malisha’s life. Hoffman discovered her during a visit to Mumbai in 2020. Malisha shared her dream of becoming a model with Hoffman. Hoffman also opened a new account for her on Instagram, promising to help. Within days, the account became the talk of social media. People quickly embraced Malisha, her family and all the happy moments she shared.

People gave her the nickname ‘Princess from the slum’. The reason for that was the face and smile that attracted everyone. Her follower count crossed two lakh. After that, small photoshoots started coming to her. She also acted in the short film ‘Live Your Fairytale’.

Cosmopolitan The fifteen-year-old became a topic of discussion in the fashion world after appearing as the cover girl of the magazine. Now a luxury beauty brand of Forest EssentialsMalisha has become a face. Maleesha is part of their campaign ‘The Samavadi Collection’. Forest Essential shared a video of Maleesha entering their outlet in her school uniform and captioned it on Instagram. She could see her dreams before her eyes. Malisha’s story is a beautiful reminder that dreams can indeed come true’.

After this, Malisha shared her point of view in an interview given to a magazine. ‘I don’t care what people think. I have something to say to the haters. I’m 90 percent sure you hate me. But I’m 100 percent sure I don’t care.’ In her words, she is confident that she will find the answers when crises pose a question mark in life in many ways. It was her determination that made Malisha walk closer to her dream.