Air India Maharajah's new clothes

India's most iconic "Maharajah" has a new look to be unveiled to the world.

The Times of India which reported the news calls it a mere "tweaking" but the image they showed with the Maharajah minus his pot-belly and the red sherwani he is synonymous with was more like the Maharajah had checked into a tummy tuck clinic and simultaneously got the folks at H&M to give him a makeover.

Twitter went nuts at the news. "Makes sense that the new Air India mascot looks like a freelance political fixer. Fitting, really" tweeted Twitter user @over_rated. "Why Air India why? You went from India Maharajah to NY cab driver!" wrote comedian @thevirdas.

Air India cleared the air by tweeting a clarification, saying the old mascot remains and "the young image is one of my many avatars to suit the occasion and activity. (Check out more at this link http://www.airindia.in/the-air-india-brand.htm)

The AI, @thenewsminute subsequently reported, will have as many as 27 new images of the Maharajah, including as a member of the cricket team.

In his first meeting with aviation ministry heads in June last year, according to the Times of India report, PM Narendra Modi had suggested a makeover for the Maharajah, in line with his brief that new aviation policies were aimed at making flying accessible to the common man and not limited only to the rich.

I asked a few of India's top designers who have spent a lifetime translating Indian heritage into modern design of what they thought of the new look Maharajah in the new image released, and also of the 27 subsequent images to follow.

"What is that?" was the reaction of designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed to the new look reproduced by TOI.

"I didn't like it at all" said designer Suneet Varma. "And various avatars is no better."

"Have they lost the plot?" said designer JJ Valaya of the idea of 27 different images of the Maharajah.

"It's a beleaguered Maharajah selling off his jewels" said Tarun Tahiliani. "It just goes to show their brand and image consultants are hopeless."

Taking the examples of Casper, Snoopy, Archie and Walt Disney, Varma said successful iconic branding is an exaggerated interpretation of characters that "while humourous, is also heartwarming". While the old Maharajah scored here, symbolising Indian hospitality with the namaste, comfort with the potbelly, and heritage with his headgear, the new one, says Varma, is "almost like a satire of the old one, and not heartwarming and lovable anymore."

Branding such as the Air India Maharajah represents a "heritage experience" and cannot afford to be "ordinary or diluted," says Varma. Saying that he held the Air India Maharajah as one of the top images identified with brands of India along with the cow, lotus, Gandhi, RK Laxman's common man and the Taj Mahal, he expressed disappointment with the new look Maharajah.

Narendra Kumar Ahmed expressed a similar assessment of the Maharajah's new clothes. "To take handicraft forward you have to make it handcrafted, unique, while making it a part of the modern world - that's heritage, and none of that heritage can be seen in the new avatar of the Maharajah," he says of the club-hopping look Maharajah which AI refers to as the "young image".

Ahmed, however, welcomes the Maharajah as having many avatars, but says it should nevertheless be "an opportunity to 'Make in India' as the prime minister believes, and to make India cool in terms of design - there are so many crafts come out of india, they should incorporate that."

Saying the idea of various avatars of the Maharajah are a way of "reinventing the AI brand in a contemporary way", Ahmed adds however that "the Maharajah should have something Indian on him." The image of the preppy Maharajah makes no sense as a heritage brand representing india, "and if it is a fashion makeover, it won't remain relevant in two years" and does not suggest the timelessness that an image should represent.

Indeed, the waistcoat could be French, the jeans are most probably American, the moustache could be a British, the black tee is just in any nightclub from Amsterdam to Ibiza, and the man bag belongs in an advertising agency.

Other designers are not enthused by the many Maharajah avatars either, as it takes away from the iconic, easily identifiable image that has stood for Indian graciousness and hospitality.

"Some messages are very clear, without having to overinform. No need to tell people that we are cricket crazy, or Bollywood crazy," says Varma of the "many avatars" clarification by Air India. "The AI Maharajah image while being instantly recognisable was self explanatory - we're royal, we're Indian, we're comical, we're lovable," says Varma.

Tahiliani, mourning the consistent decline in aesthetic and service in the national carrier, says of the various avatars expected: "Now you may as well take the Maharajah and make a joker out of him, and the metaphor will be complete".

Designer JJ Valaya says the new design move is an example of "trying too hard".

Saying: "Evolution not revolution" he adds: "Evolution is moving gently to keep up with the times. Maybe the thought process is right that the Maharajah needs a makeover but this is just too radical. 27 images are even worse than having a single different image," he says referring to the preppy image printed by TOI.

He says as a national carrier the iconic Maharajah branding needs to project what the country is about - "to give him so many avatars shows we are not comfortable in our own skin".

He says the Maharajah image is one of the strongest images of India in the world. "You have a strong character there who the world relates to. You can introduce some new threads to keep up with the changing times but not in this way - the proportions have changed. You can pop this fellow anywhere and you won't know it's the Maharajah."

The AI website says of the Maharajah conceived by Bobby Kooka in 1946 along with Umesh Rao, an artist with J Walter Thompson Ltd: "Today, this naughty diminutive Maharajah of Air India has become a world figure. He can be a lover boy in Paris, a sumo wrestler in Tokyo, a pavement artist, a Red Indian, a monk... he can effortlessly flirt with the beauties of the world. And most importantly, he can get away with it all. Simply because he is the Maharajah!"

"We call him a Maharajah for want of a better description. But his blood isn't blue. He may look like royalty, but he isn't royal," is how the Maharajah was conceived, according to Kooka.