By Lavanya Rathore
From a humble home in Kutch to the grand homes of Bollywood stars and billionaires, Veena Nagda’s journey is not one written in ink, but in mehendi. Often called India’s most celebrated mehendi artist, her story is not just about beautiful designs but about courage, sacrifice, and unshakable passion. In this heart-to-heart conversation, she opens up about her first encounter with Poonam Dhillon, how embroidery transformed into art on skin, and how she became one of the most sought-after mehendi artists in the country.
Veena Nagda’s journey began in the culturally rich region of Kutch. “In childhood, we used to belong to Kutch. We used to do embroidery at home, my mumma, my sister, everybody used to do embroidery,” she recalls. Born into a Kacchi family with five sisters and one brother, Veena’s early life was deeply rooted in tradition and discipline.
“We all did our studies, but we weren’t allowed to go to college,” she says. “My father had promised me that if I came first in class, he would let me study further. But I really don’t know what happened after that, he denied it and said, ‘Everybody is working at home, so you also sit at home and do your work.’”
With higher education out of reach, Veena began helping her mother, who ran a tiffin business from home. But little did she know it was an ordinary wedding that would become the turning point of her life. “I couldn’t understand what was happening with my life. I wasn’t allowed to go out, and my elder sister was already married at that time. She knew I loved travelling and exploring,” Veena shares. Her sister was attending a wedding at their family doctor’s house, and they needed two mehendi artists.
“She told my mother, ‘She knows embroidery,’ and asked me to come along. But I said, ‘I don’t know how to apply mehendi, how would I do it?’
Veena’s sister didn’t let her fear get in the way. “She gave me the strength to start and told me to take a cone and make the same designs I used to do in my embroidery,” Veena remembers. The promise of an outing was enough to convince her. “I thought, oh, a car will come to take us, we’ll get to go to Bandra, and maybe we’ll even receive gifts! Just like people return from abroad with makeup kits and fancy things,” she laughs. “At that time, we didn’t even know there would be money involved. For me, it was just a chance to step outside the house.”
Veena and her friend went along and sat down to apply mehendi, doing what they knew best, repeating the floral embroidery patterns they had grown up stitching. To their surprise, people liked it. And then, magic walked in.
“Around 4 or 5 p.m., actress Poonam Dhillon arrived,” she recalls, eyes still wide with wonder. “We didn’t even have a television at home back then. Seeing such a big star in real life, we were struck for two whole minutes.”
Poonam ji asked for mehendi, and Veena shyly began applying it on one hand. “She looked at it and said, ‘Your designs are very pretty, it looks beautiful.’ Then she asked me to apply it on her other hand too.” That moment changed everything. “Every second is etched in my brain. Holding her hand, applying mehend, it was a dream come true. I never imagined an actor would sit beside me.”
When Veena returned home, her joy was multiplied by surprise. “I argued with my mother because I found out that we were actually paid ₹10 per hand!” she says. “I had gone thinking I would just get a small gift. Back then, I used to sit from morning till evening doing 100 mirror embroidery pieces and only earn ₹8 to ₹10. For Kacchi embroidery, I used to get ₹8. So applying mehendi on Poonam Dhillon’s hands felt like good luck, maybe fate… or let’s just call it destiny.”
Back home, Veena’s mother needed extra income. “We told mumma that if we charged ₹10 per hand, we could easily make ₹30 a day,” she recalls. At the time, they were living in a very humble locality. But soon, a buzz began. “Word spread ‘Oh my god, Veena met Poonam Dhillon! She met an actress, a heroine!’”
As the excitement built, Veena stood firm in her decision. “I became stubborn with my mother too. I told her, ‘I’m going to go out and apply mehendi.’” And she did. She started charging ₹10 per hand in her neighbourhood, and thanks to her embroidery background, her mehendi was crisp, detailed, and fine.
“There was a family doctor near our house, he was my father’s doctor. I used to do embroidery for his wife, and I told her that I also apply mehendi now. Slowly, people began to find out.”
Up until then, they had only known mehendi as something used during weddings. But Veena noticed a shift. “People wanted mehendi for festivals too, like in June there’s Teej and Rakhi. There are three Teej festivals and everybody wanted mehendi for those.” Veena started applying mehendi during these celebrations as well. “I used to charge ₹10 to ₹20 for both hands. If I applied for five people, I would earn ₹100. I told my mother, ‘How great is this I’m earning ₹100 a day and I also get to go out and travel!’ That’s how I built my mehendi career.”
Opportunities were rare, especially for a young woman with limited freedom. “I had very little permission to go out,” she says. “So before I got married, I told my husband clearly that I would continue doing mehendi because I loved it.”
Thankfully, he agreed. “He said, ‘Do your mehendi work after finishing the house chores.’ And I said yes, because I was already used to doing all the housework. We helped mumma at home, then did our own work. That’s just how we were raised.”
Today, when Veena Nagda looks back, she sees a life transformed, entirely because of mehendi. “At this point in my life, I think mehendi has changed everything, my life, my career. It has given me a celebrity name, whatever you want to call it. It’s all because of mehendi,” she reflects with pride.
Growing up in Balkeshwar, Veena had dreams of her own dreams she had to set aside. “I wanted to study, but I couldn’t. So I decided I will fulfil every dream through my children,” she says. And she did. “Both of my children studied abroad. They have good careers and good lives.”
She still remembers how even a ₹10 ticket to Ghatkopar was out of reach during her childhood. “Mumma wouldn’t take us, there were five of us sisters. So I always stayed home. But now, because of this work, I’ve travelled across the world.”
Her passion took her to Japan, where she taught the art of mehendi. “They asked me, ‘What’s in mehendi? It has medicinal properties.’ They said mehendi is also used in medicine. For me, mehendi is literally everything.”
With countless clients over the decades, Veena feels her childhood dreams are now fulfilled. “I used to dream of going to actors’ homes, applying mehendi on their hands, going to businesspeople’s houses, flying to foreign countries.” And those dreams have come true. “Recently, I went to Paris for a Reliance event and applied mehendi continuously for 17 days. I broke my own record!”
Now at 61, she was even part of the Paris Olympics cultural events. “It was a huge opportunity. I got strength from within to do everything. Even Nita ji told me, ‘You’re going to make the country proud.’”
Today, Veena’s name is not just associated with artistry, it’s linked with auspiciousness. “You know, now people even say it’s good luck,” she shares with a smile. “They say if Veena ji applies the mehendi, the bride is going to be happy. There’s something about it, some kind of good omen.”
Her mehendi has become a staple on the big screen too. “I’ve applied mehendi in every Dharma Productions movie starting from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It’s become a kind of tradition now, if there’s a wedding in a Dharma film, I’m there.”
She recalls one particularly proud moment involving Ekta Kapoor. “Ekta ji called me, and while arranging everything, she said, ‘No matter what, mehendi will only be applied by Veena ji.’ She had decided that from the beginning. It was such a proud moment for me.”
Veena’s long-standing relationships with some of India’s most iconic families are also a badge of honour. “I’ve been going to Sunita Kapoor’s house for 28 years continuously. And for the Ambanis, it’s been 38 years. I feel so proud that I once applied mehendi for the mothers, and now I’m doing it for their daughters.”
Another memory close to her heart is from Shilpa Shetty’s wedding. “She told me, ‘I only want Laxmi and Ganpati designs.’ I said, ‘I can’t make that directly on your hands,’ and she immediately agreed. So, I created something symbolic that captured the essence of what she wanted. That’s when the lotus motif trend started in the mehendi industry.”
Each bride Veena works with brings a unique vision, and Veena ensures she brings it to life. “Everybody has their own demands,” she says. “Sometimes we even have to match their mehendi to the wedding theme, so we plan everything in advance.”
One moment that stayed with her was doing Ankita Lokhande’s bridal mehendi. “I’ve been a big fan of hers since Pavitra Rishta started. She told me she had dreamt since she was young that her bridal mehendi would only be done by Veena ji. That meant so much to me.”
The same emotion echoed in Hina Khan’s words. “Hina ji said, ‘It’s my dream that my clothes will be by Manish Malhotra and mehendi by Veena ji.’” For Veena, these aren’t just compliments, they’re reminders of how far she’s come.
Hina’s wedding brought both tradition and creativity together. “Her mother said, according to their rituals, we had to apply mehendi under her feet. I agreed. Then Hina ji said, ‘Let’s do something new.’ So I suggested Moroccan designs.”
Hina wanted a lotus motif, but Veena explained its sacred significance. “I told her we wouldn’t place the lotus on the feet because it symbolizes Goddess Laxmi. But we could definitely include it on the hands.” Hina immediately agreed. “We did Moroccan patterns on her feet. As per her mother’s request, we placed a traditional design in the centre and filled the gaps using mehendi stains.”
“It is truly God’s grace,” Veena says with folded hands. “That lotus design changed everything. And now, it’s been 42 years of me applying mehendi, and not a single design has failed. Every design has been liked, appreciated, and remembered.”
Her reputation has taken her places she once only dreamed of. “Last year, Nita ji took me to the Paris Olympics cultural event, and that too went so well.” But it wasn’t easy. “We had to apply mehendi from 10 in the morning to 10 at night, for 17 straight days! At first, I was scared. I don’t do this even in India. Usually, we work for four hours and wrap up. But this was different.” Despite the challenge, she says with a smile, “It went beautifully.”
Among her many unforgettable memories is the wedding of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh in Lake Como. “Ranveer was so enthusiastic! While the family was getting their mehendi done, he started looking at designs, laughing and enjoying himself. The next day, he sat and had his own mehendi applied too.”
And then, there was Ranbir Kapoor. “During the shoot of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, he also applied mehendi. That moment went viral, and the mehendi again became famous.”
From small homes in Kutch to movie sets in Mumbai and arenas in Paris, Veena Nagda’s art has never been just about beauty, it’s about blessing, presence, and perseverance.
“There’s no pressure,” Veena says calmly. “But yes, when you go for big events, like Lalit Modi’s daughter’s wedding in Venice, the Jindal wedding in Vienna, or Vijay Shah’s in Belgium, you do think, ‘We’re going abroad. Everything must be perfect.’ That thought always stays in mind.”
Even in India, for high-profile families like the Ambanis, Kamdhenus, or Jindals, Veena ensures her standards never drop. “With such big names, our work must be the best.”
What sets her apart is not just her skill, but her preparation. “I’m very particular about perfection,” she explains. “I always send my girls half an hour early. If the client’s booking is for 2 p.m., we make sure we reach by 1:30. There can be traffic or last-minute issues. And after doing this for 42 years, I know how important that buffer time is.”
Veena’s team never relies on the client for materials either. “We bring our own pillows, napkins, everything. It’s all ours.” She recalls a late-night event at Antilia, Nita Ambani’s home. “We reached there around 2 a.m. and started applying mehendi by 2:30. The women were so relieved, they’d just finished their work and immediately had to sit. As soon as they placed their hands on our pillows, they relaxed.” Designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla were there too. “They said, ‘Now this is called perfection. This is why people say Veena ji is professional.’”
Veena is equally strict when it comes to design changes. “Once mehendi is applied, it stains quickly. If we try to remove it or layer over it, it becomes messy. That’s why we finalize everything beforehand, what you want, what’s important, any special motifs. If something small needs to change, we’ll do it on the spot. But once it’s applied, there’s no going back.”
She doesn’t believe in favourites. “Because of them, I am also a celebrity now,” she smiles. “Like Hina’s wedding, it brought me so much popularity. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since.”
Her bond with families goes back decades. “Sonam Kapoor, Shloka Ambani, Isha Ambani, I’ve been applying mehendi to them since they were 5 or 6 years old. It’s a proud feeling that they still choose me.” She fondly remembers Sonam’s childhood. “Even then, she wanted perfection in every line. Even if someone else was getting mehendi, she’d inspect it line by line.”
And with growing expectations, Veena continues to match the bar. “When I applied mehendi to Deepika in Lake Como, we were wondering how will we sit for so many hours? Even holding the cone was tough because of the cold. But she sat patiently for three and a half hours, and she wanted mehendi not just on her hands, but on her feet too.”
“People love mehendi today,” she adds, “but it’s not easy. For many, especially brides, it’s their first time and it takes strength to sit through it.”
Among the countless weddings she’s adorned, Twinkle Khanna’s holds a special place in Veena’s heart. “I’ll never forget that one,” she says. “I got a call the day before saying I had to apply mehendi for the bride and around 10 to 15 others. I was shocked! I thought did some other mehendi artist cancel on them last minute?”
But to her surprise, they simply said, “No, we just want to apply tomorrow, please come.” Veena agreed. “When we arrived the next morning, the first person to open the door was Dimple Kapadia. She had already met me at another wedding and had told me, ‘Veena ji, when my daughter gets married, only you will come.’ I didn’t know that time would come so soon.”
Twinkle was casually dressed, flipping through her wedding design album. “She asked, ‘Do people sit for mehendi wearing clothes like this?’ I laughed and asked, ‘Whose mehendi is this?’ She said, ‘Mine. It’s my wedding in the evening.’ I was speechless. We had reached there at 10 in the morning and the wedding was the same evening!”
They quickly got to work. “We finished her mehendi by 3 or 3:30 p.m. and gave her clove-infused steam to deepen the stain,” Veena shares. “The next day, I got a call saying, ‘Veena ji, the stain has become so dark!’ I replied, ‘That’s all Akshay ji’s love!’” she laughs. “Honestly, I was nervous, because we never use chemicals, and I didn’t know if the colour would come out in such little time. But thankfully, it did.”
Her first film industry experience came through Dharma Productions, during the shoot of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. “It was my first time seeing a real shoot set. I didn’t even know where Dharma’s office was or that I had to meet Karan Johar. We knew nothing.”
Back then, vanity vans weren’t common. “Only big stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan had their own vans. We went to Kareena and Kajol’s vans. I even stepped inside to apply their mehendi, it was a totally new experience.” The Bole Chudiyan song became iconic, and so did the mehendi shown in it. “Our mehendi became famous with that song.”
Her earliest memory of working with the Ambanis is both humble and heartwarming. “When we went to their house, Kokilaben said, ‘Veena, you don’t have a card? You don’t even have a phone?’ I told her no, I didn’t. I applied mehendi for ₹25 for both hands. It was a party for their daughter’s wedding.”
At the time, she had no idea about bridal rates. “I didn’t know I should have a card or even a telephone. After that, I bought both and more clients began to come.”
Her re-entry into Bollywood came through a beautiful twist. “After Poonam Dhillon, I didn’t get any offers for a while. Then I was called to a wedding for Priya Shippiji’s Gujarati friend. That wedding was attended by a Punjabi family, who loved our intricate mehendi work so much that they called me again for her sister’s wedding in Juhu.”
This event marked a turning point. “The party started at 6 p.m. and went past midnight. I came home really late and that’s how my father found out I was going out for this work. It was the first time we saw so many actors and actresses Neetu Singh, Rakesh Roshan, Sunita Kapoor… and that’s how I entered the world of Bollywood.”
Since then, it’s been a 28-year-long bond with Sunita Kapoor. “She still calls me every Karwa Chauth. Even Sridevi and other stars would come to her house to get their mehendi done.”
“For me, there’s no difference between a celebrity and a common person,” Veena says firmly. “A bride is a bride.”
Her integrity never wavers not even when faced with big names. “Once, Farah Khan, the choreographer, called me for a booking. She said, ‘Veena ji, we have a party at 10 a.m. at my house.’ I told her, ‘I already have an order that day. I will come, but maybe we can shift the timing from 10 to 11?’ Going from Malad to Juhu takes time, after all.”
She also informed her earlier client and adjusted that appointment slightly. “When I reached Farah Khan’s home, my colleague was already there. Farah ji, dressed in a beautiful chaniya choli, was sitting ready. I asked, ‘What and how much would you like?’ She smiled and said, ‘I’m the bride today apply however you want.’ So I did her mehendi till the elbows. Everyone cooperated, with love. It’s never about fame.”
She speaks with emotion about moments that transcend even art. “You know, mehendi is shagun, auspicious. I’ll never forget when Anil ji who usually never enters the mehendi area came in for his daughter’s ceremony and placed the first dot on her hand with a cone. That moment, that love… It’s God’s grace that I get to spread happiness in people’s homes.”
And despite her stature, she has never charged differently for her art. “For me, the price is the same whether it’s the Ambanis or anyone else. When I went to their home, people said, ‘Take extra, charge more,’ but my mother always told me, ‘Take only what is fair.’ And I’ve lived by that.”
Often, brides come with tears and dreams. “They say, ‘Veena ji, I dreamt that you would apply mehendi on my hands.’ And I tell them, ‘If you’ve dreamt it, I’ll fulfill it. I’m from a middle-class family too, and I know how that feels.’ Everyone’s dream should come true.”
During the pandemic, Veena reconnected with her roots. “I tried going back to embroidery. My kids would always say, ‘You’ve never done anything for yourself. You’ve always lived for us.’ During COVID, I picked up my old threads again and for the first time in a long time, I felt joy just for myself.”
But her heart, she says, still beats for mehendi. “It’s my life. I’ve told my children, when I die, make sure there’s mehendi and gulal at my last rites. That’s how much I love it. Mehendi is not just my work it is who I am.”
She even shares tips with brides hoping for a deep, dark stain. “We get our mehendi powder from outside but mix it with nilgiri oil to enhance the quality. I always say don’t go for cheap oils just because of price. It ruins the purity.”
And no, you can’t rush mehendi. “People want deep colour in half an hour. That’s only possible with chemicals and we never use those. We only use organic mehendi because we don’t know what kind of reaction synthetic ingredients might cause. A dark stain takes time and care: don’t dip your hands in water, apply tiger balm or clove steam. It’s a process but that’s how you get a beautiful result.”
Veena Nagda’s journey is not just about mehendi it’s about humility, dedication, tradition, and love. From a small home in Kutch to the hands of Bollywood royalty, she has remained grounded, graceful, and grateful. And through every curve of her cone, she continues to write stories.
