Amul salutes Karan Johar's Met Gala 2026 debut with viral topical ad

Filmmaker Karan Johar received a special tribute from dairy brand Amul after making his Met Gala 2026 debut in New York earlier this week. Johar became the first Indian director to represent the country at the event, where he wore an ensemble designed specially for him by his friend and designer Manish Malhotra, in keeping with this year’s theme, "Costume Art", and the dress code, "fashion is art".

Marking the occasion, Amul shared one of its signature topical advertisements on social media shortly after the event. The post read, "Amul Topical: Met Gala 2026 boasts Bollywood celebrities like Karan Johar and others!"

The illustration showed the brand’s iconic mascot in a dramatic couture-inspired outfit as a tribute to Johar’s appearance at the event. Its headline read, "GALA MEIN TOH SAHAB BAN GAYA!", along with the tagline, "Amul: Always in Fashion." The post quickly went viral on social media and drew praise from fans and celebrities.

Johar’s outfit, created by Malhotra, drew its visual language from the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, reworking the painter’s use of drape, light and ornament through contemporary couture. The silhouette was rooted in classical Indian drapery and restructured to allow the fabric to move with the body while retaining its sculptural form.

The garment referenced some of Ravi Varma’s best-known works, including Hamsa Damayanti, Kadambari, Arjuna and Subhadra, and There Comes Papa, with each painting chosen for what was described as its quiet emotional truth.

The look also featured hand-painted gold detailing by traditional artisans, applied directly on to the garment like paint on canvas. The result was described as a piece that stood between costume and conventional couture, carrying history in its construction and taking on a different life when worn.

Here's a closer look at his outfit:

Speaking about the ensemble, Johar said, "I didn’t want to arrive here trying to explain India. I wanted to arrive feeling like myself and that automatically brings everything I come from with it."

He added, "For me it had to feel personal and the moment it felt personal, it became Indian, because that’s where everything I know comes from. Every story I’ve told, every film I’ve made, every emotion I’ve tried to put on screen has come from this place. Raja Ravi Varma felt right because his work does something I’ve always tried to do in cinema."

"Ravi Varma painted feelings. The way a sari falls, the way a figure holds itself, the light on a face that is somehow both divine and completely human. I’ve grown up with those images without always knowing it. They live in you before you can name them. This look is my way of wearing that inheritance and I think that’s the most honest thing I could have done for my first MET. To arrive not with a concept, but with a feeling I’ve carried my whole life and finally found the right form for," he concluded.

Johar’s first appearance at the Met Gala was marked both by a costume rooted in Indian artistic inheritance and by Amul’s tribute, which turned the moment into one of the brand’s latest topical campaigns.