Chapter 2 Drip — a clothing brand founded by Bollywood actor Rhea Chakraborty and her brother — opened its first store in Mumbai this week. The start-up was founded as an online store in 2024 and valued at Rs 38 crore to Rs 40 crore as of May 2025 following seed funding from retail giants Kishore and Ashni Biyani. The streetwear clothing brand went ‘offline’ this week with a store in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai.
The start-up idea took root as the siblings found themselves thrust unfavorably under the spotlight following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rhea and Showik were both arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau on drug-related charges linked to her ex-boyfriend in 2020.
“When I was arrested, my t-shirt read: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, let’s smash the patriarchy, me and you.’ It spoke for me when I couldn’t,” the actor told CNBC-TV18.
The actor revealed during an interview on Sunday that the case and the vitriolic public reaction had had lasting impact on the family and their careers. The harrowing experience would later become the catalyst for their start-up — with the siblings deciding to create a platform that “gave people a voice”.
“When we went through the tragedy that we went through, we both lost our careers. I stopped getting any acting work, and Showik, who had scored 96 percentile in CAT and secured admission into a prestigious university, was arrested before he could begin. By the time he came out, he had lost the first trimester—and with it, his MBA plans and future planning… No one wanted to hire someone who had so much media scandal around them,” she added.
The website for their clothing brand also underscores this messaging — inviting people to “write their sequel” through clothing that spoke out. The siblings unveiled their first physical store last week and later held a puja at the venue. The label sells a wide variety of oversized t-shirts, raw-edged hoodies, baggy jeans, and many unisex pieces with affirming quotes..