When love is a backless choli

The princeling is jodhpur-clad raja of upturned moustache and downward fortunes. He’s reduced to playing the village godfather/ hitman even as his zari-clad step-mother hands him the odd trinket to sell. His first wife killed herself,the second one is prone to mental frenzy.

The raja’s mistress,his only solace,is all cholis and curls,using her small waist and bare back to pay her bills. And the chauffeur,the gangster,the lover who dreams too much,is the archetypical unemployed youth in search of dignity,or a job,whichever comes first. He wears a bright T-shirt,cheap sunglasses and carries a guitar. But he play-acts the sahib,wears his silk shirts and jodhpur pants and makes the jadau -ed queen massage his legs in servitude.

In some of the most compelling stories told,right from Shakespearean times,clothing plays a decisive role. Attire is more than just costume or a mise-en-scene in a well-written plot,it becomes a character in itself. The biwi’s backless choli reminds sahib of the mistress he’s just murdered. It’s followed by the only kiss the husband and wife share in the film. The gangster driver has donned the sahib’s clothes when the biwi mistakenly confesses of her employee’s growing fondness for her. Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster may be loved or not,it cannot be ignored as one of the finest riffs of a classic we’ve seen in a long time. There are no black-and-white characters here,each player in this tale has shades of greige. Its costume designer,Lakme Fashion Week protégée Digvijay Singh (who looks quite like the rough-and-tumble raja himself),is a name that should soon be famous.

Perhaps one of the best things about this film is that it isn’t a period film,where the mores and dress codes of the concerned era demand research. Even though it is set in the here-and-now,neither the director nor the characters turn to the modes and labels of the day to take away from the film’s rustic atmosphere. Of course,movies are nothing without a good story and great actors. But just as a background score is responsible for swinging the audience’s moods,the costumes are fundamental in allowing us to make decisions about the characters and a good stylist will have to convey information about the film not just dress up its actors. As Oscar Wilde once commented,“It is only the shallow people who fail to judge by appearances.”

In Dhulia’s film,the raiments are dapper,seductive,tantalising and provocative. Just like all its players,there’s nothing chaste about the film’s designs. namratanow@gmail.com