When Padmaavat costume designers, Rimple and Harpreet Narula, got a call in 2016 from Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for a meeting, they didn’t leave anything to chance. Instead of carrying their look-books as is the norm, they carried a big bag containing samples of antique textiles that they had collected over a period of time during their travels across the globe.
Materials gathered from the Grand Bazaar of Turkey and sheaths of embroidered cloth woven with Ottoman influences made it to their carefully-edited sample showcase.
While the Delhi-based designers didn’t know why the celebrated director, who’s known for his grand, sweeping spectacles such as Bajirao Mastani and Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ramleela, wanted to meet with them, Rimple — an ardent Bollywood movie buff — had an inkling that it was for his new project Padmaavat.
“Like any new designer who has not worked in a Bollywood film, we were confused and excited. But that bag with antique textiles helped in making an instant connection with Bhansali sir. He has a vast knowledge of textiles and he picked up one of the materials and we began discussing the province that it came from,” said Rimple in an interview with Gulf News tabloid!.
Their eligibility to design costumes for the principal characters played by actors Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Aditi Rao Hydari was enhanced because they had a rich knowledge of working with real royal families of India.
But it hasn’t been an easy Bollywood design debut for this designer-duo who will head to Dubai on January 27 to be a part of SoPritti exhibition at the Roda Al Murooj hotel with their capsule collection.
The period epic, about a 14th century Hindu queen belonging to the Rajput community and Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji, has been marred by controversy right from its inception. Right-wing groups who resorted to violence by vandalising the film sets in Maharshtra in March 2017, citing ‘distortion of history’ and perceived intimate scene between the Hindu queen and a Muslim ruler, death-threats being issued to Padukone and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, along with multiple calls for the movie’s ban fearing Rajput pride being hurt were the issues that threatened to engulf their costume period drama.
“We had an unfortunate incident where costumes got burnt and damaged last year. So we had to re-create those that were damaged… But we learnt a lot during the making of this film. Our costume design was the result of a lot of discussions and man-hours being put in. It was one of our most enlightening, cherished experience of our lives,” said Rimple.
Bhansali, who’s notorious for being an exacting director, lived up to his notorious reputation. But his demands were legitimate because he was one of the few directors who had extensive knowledge of materials and tasteful aesthetics, claims Rimple.
Adjectives such as “visionary” and “courageous” roll off her easily while describing their first Bollywood boss Bhansali, but they were on their toes during its making. Costumes were made as per first and second filming schedules and replicas of the same outfit were made for scenes that took several days to shoot. On any given day, Rimple and Narula had five others helping them create the wardrobe for Padmaavat.
“Once we got a call from Bhansali sir if we can do a different dupatta [a long stole] with a costume, and I said, sir that can be done. But he said it has to reach them in two days. So I flew from Delhi the next day and brought it to him,” said Rimple, who describes Bhansali as a free spirit who believes staunchly in creative liberties that is unfettered by time frames.
The fact that he didn’t choose mainstream Bollywood costume designers and chose to put his faith in a designer-duo, not acquainted with Bollywood costume designing, speaks volumes about his strong sense of direction.
For the Rajasthani characters played by Padukone and Kapoor, the designers who are married to each other chose reams of organic mal cotton. For Padukone, Gota embroidery work from Rajasthan is featured heavily in her outfits, while cotton went into the turbans of Kapoor. For Singh’s Alauddin Khilji, velvets and jutes were used generously for his embellished capes.
“The costumes were designed for the cold climate that prevailed in Rajasthan then before climate change happened. We did a lot of research based on the weather,” said Rimple.
The colour palette for the Rajasthani characters were pastels such as beige and ivory with fabrics sourced from the Indian villages, while the antagonist Singh wore dark colours such as maroons, browns and greys. The designer duo borrowed heavily from their knowledge gathered from their trips to The Calico Museum of Textiles in Gujarat and museums in Jaipur.
“We kept the character briefs in our hands all the time. Ranveer is playing a dark character — a fearless, ruthless king. So keeping that description in mind we wanted him to have a dark, gloomy aura and so we chose strong colour schemes,” she said.
Designing for Singh’s character of a ruthless king was the most challenging, claims Rimple.
“We were pushing the envelope in terms of costumes which help in creating an instant imagery.”
Great care was also taken to ensure that the lehengas — worn by Padukone — weren’t impractical and heavy.
But were they ever worried that the elaborate costumes would overshadow the personalities?
“I was amazed at how all the artists in this film lend themselves to their character. They are true professionals and Bhansali leaves no stone untouched. Our clothes only help you get more engrossed in the character. Their personalities on-screen are enhanced because of our clothes… Trust me, it’s going to be spectacular.”
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Don’t miss it!
Rimple and Harpreet Narula’s costumes can be seen in Padmaavat, releasing in the UAE on January 25. You can also check out the duo’s capsule collection at Sopritti exhibition at the Al Yassat Ballroom, Roda Al Murooj on January 27.
