He says he is a “12th pass" and couldn't really study. But guess what, he's the one who designed India’s jersey for the World Cup. 🇮🇳🏏
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00:00This year we did Rajasthan Royals IPL, this year we also did the Indian cricket team jerseys and then we also did the Asian Games and that's across men and women both.
00:22My journey started when I failed in my 11th standard.
00:24Apart from studies, everything else was fun.
00:30I would always excel in my art class and that would always help me to sort of know for a fact that you know what, even if I fail, there is something to fall back upon.
00:48And by that mean, we design experiences, we design weddings, we design interiors and we also design brands.
01:00So this goes back to six years old of me. My dad had his business which was to deal in Kashmiri handicrafts and while these artisans would come over, you know, and I knew for a fact that they were self-taught as well.
01:16And that sort of always remained with me. That to me I think was my first interaction with art to be honest.
01:22Obviously while I was playing in a band, I was teaching guitar to kids so I could make some money to support my musical career.
01:39And I ended up becoming a designer because for my own band I wanted to create artwork.
01:42Other bands also sort of saw my work and they were like, you know what Akhil, your work looks great, how about you get some work done for us as well.
01:48And slowly and steadily sort of, you know, made a little mark for my own self and soon enough got a job at a music magazine.
01:55I was like, bazaar, shadi ke liye, kya ho raha hai, log shadion mein khana khana aate hain, dance karte hain, ghar jaate hain, maze karte hain.
02:13Yeh ek bazaar kahaan se chipka diya sab ke beech mein.
02:15When I sent those designs, I got a call 10 days later saying, listen, your design's been approved.
02:20And this is when I asked, bhai yeh hai kaun, kiske liye kaam ho raha tha?
02:23And that's when they told me, this is the Ambani's we're talking about.
02:42Started off as an intern at a magazine where I ended up becoming a junior designer to a senior designer to an art director.
02:48Then starting from scratch at a design studio because for me, that's where I ended up learning most of the things.
03:04I remember looking out of the window and tears rolling out of my eyes purely because how emotional it was.
03:08Purely because of how big of an opportunity it was.
03:12And if you would ask a 13-year-old Akhil how you would feel, it would have been an impossible thing to be really describing
03:20because I would have never imagined for me to be at a place like this where you'd be representing, you'd be designing for the Indian national team.
03:42It's a life-come-full-circle moment, to be honest.
03:45It's my way of answering back to all my relatives or all my peers who'd make fun of me for me not being able to succeed in studies
03:53or me being a failure in school because here I am doing things that I wanted to do.