Delhi-based couturier duo Rimple and Harpreet Narula have spent the larger part of last year bent over books. They also made numerous trips to libraries and museums. No, they were not prepping for an exam. Ever since the couple had been roped in by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali to design the clothes for the star cast of his forthcoming magnus opus Padmavati, they have been gripped with frenzied energy. It is no mean feat, given Bhansali’s previous ventures Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani had been trendsetters. Remember the layered lehnga from Ram-Leela, and the signature anarkali with Persian embroidery from Bajirao Mastani? They both had caught on like wildfire.
“It was very tricky to get the look right. The film is set in the 13th century and there is very less written or pictorial evidence from that time. No textile or fabric are available from then. There are some frescoes and murals that helped us out visually. I spent many weeks at the Calico museum in Ahmedabad. It is run by the Saabhai Foundation and is the lone textile museum in the country. It allows only 20 people a day,” says Harpreet.
The couple have been designing for 16 years and have clothed their share of Bollywood stars. Padmavati is their first-ever outing as designers for a Hindi film. “We did not know that it was coming our way. We met the team in the pre-production stage, and the next thing we know we were on board,” they recall. It hasn’t sunk in yet.
They discovered that designing for a film is a not at all what they thought it to be. They say: “We designers usually have a frame of context when we are designing for our label or when we are unveiling a new collection. At times we mutter to our assistants that we are going for a particular look, inspired by some peforming art or something similar. But with a period film like Padmavati, everything has been wiped clean. There was little historical reference for us to work with. And it all needed to blend in seamlessly with the narrative of the film.”
For the past few months, they have been breathing, sleeping and dreaming the project. They have gone for natural flowing lines, sheer fabrics and organic materials. The patterns and prints they have come up with are very simple. “It was the pre-Mughal era. We wished to reflect those times. We used a lot of mulmul and other natural fabrics, but of course we are talking about royalty, so there is use of brocade and zardozi. And there is hand-embroidery, to top it all. As all the three lead characters are very distinct culturally, we had to make sure that their clothes reflected the same.”
Their maiden venture in Bollywood helped Rimple and Harpreet to dispel many myths that they earlier believed in. For starters, Bhansali is not a taskmaster. “He is definitely an authority on his kind of cinema, but he is not authoritative. He explains, mentors, and carries his vision forward. There were never any creative conflicts with him,” adds Harpreet.
The duo has helped attire many Delhi brides. A whole army of them must have swooned, gone hysterical or been dumbfounded at their flagship store in Defence Colony (some may call it pre-wedding jitters, or it could be termed as brides being bridezillas). They thought they had ample practise to deal with star tantrums.
“We were very surprised. Sanjay is a perfectionist, so there were at times many last minute changes that took a lot of time to implement. But there were no tanrums thrown around for us to deal with. All three of the lead actors were so patient. We have lost count of the number of look tests we had to do. And these clothes that we were making for them are not very comfortable. They are heavy, embellishhed, have things sown into them. But all of the three lead actors very patiently dealt with all of it. We didn’t get any complaints from anyone,” says Harpreet.
It will be interseting to see what looks these Delhi designers have created for the film slated to release in November.