Costume Drama

Screen Awards introduces the Best Costume category to honour film stylists.

When stylist Niharika Khan was approached to style for The Dirty Picture (TDP),she was not sure. The executive producer kept saying it is a small-budget,woman-oriented film and I didnt know if they were offering me the film or dissuading me from doing it, laughs the stylist whose work for TDP has brought her instant attention and recognition.

But Khan feels that the achievement truly sank in when she was nominated (with Moiz Kapadia,who styled for TDPs secondary cast) in the recently introduced Best Costume category at the 18th Annual Colors Screen Awards. It proves that the industry is realising the importance of costumes. The right costumes help realise the characters,especially in a period film. In a country that got its first Oscar for costume design Bhanu Athaiya won it for Gandhi costumes have been treated as mere accessories for far too long. For many decades,the focus was to make the hero and heroine look glamorous. That has been constantly changing over the last few years.

Bollywood being Indias biggest fashion stylist,film costumes have quickly translated into retail wishlists. Sonam Kapoor is now a much-cited instance of how styling can sometimes do better than an actor. Her ensembles in Aisha had more recall value than anything else in the film.

Despite common perception that styling requires glamorous outfits,costumes in a film need more than a quick assimilation of a trendy wardrobe. They require research of the character and the context. So,while Khan spent five months studying the looks of the 80s films of South India for TDP,Loveleen Bains used her travel experience and discussions with director Pankaj Kapur for Sonam Kapoors four looks in Mausam,thus earning a nomination alongside Khan at the Screen Awards.

Also in the fray are Jaimal Odedra for Patiala House,Anaita Adajania-Shroff for Ra.One and Aarti Patkar for Yeh Saali Zindagi. While Adajania-Shroff has bagged the nomination for styling Shah Rukh Khan as the curly-haired Shekhar Subramanium as well as the mohawked G.One (the superhero costume was designed by American specialists),Patkar finds herself on the list for keeping the costumes simple and true to the characters.

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The Dirty Picture