Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C), Deepika Padukone essays a double role - of Sakhi, an Indian woman, and of Meow Meow, a Chinese martial arts expert.
Akshay Kumar is Sidhu, who transforms from a cook in Delhi to a Kung Fu expert in China. To help achieve both these looks director Nikhil Advani and producer Rohan Sippy roped in New York-based designer Jaimal Odedra, who makes his film styling debut with CC2C . Jaimal has worked with leading international fashion labels like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Givenchy .
Wh e n approached by Advani, the designer jumped at the chance and immediately embarked on the task of designing and sourcing outfits and clothing hundreds in the cast of the massive action-comedy . ‘‘I started with sketches and visual image references for all characters. Nikhil’s brief was to design and develop a very stylised, recognisable look for each of the characters - like a superhero or comic book caricature,’’ says Odedra.
Conceptualising the look of each character included hair, make-up, costumes and accessories. Among the challenges was to produce costumes that could be functional, facilitate action sequences, wires and harnesses and yet look stunning.
‘‘They had to endure the ‘wear and tear’ of the many amazing stunts in the film and we had to make Akshay and Deepika look effortless whilst doing the action,’’ adds Odedra.
Ask him if there was any specific trick to accommodate stunt work and he says the stunt director discussed his needs in order to make the stunts look amazing. ‘‘A lot of the fabrics had to be durable,’’ says Odedra. ‘‘For example, we have a whole scene that we shot over seven days in the rain. The clothes had to survive and still look good. So we used fabrics and waterproofed them just enough to look wet, yet get soaked slowly .’’ To distinguish between Sakhi and Meow Meow, the former is shown as more feminine, colourful, and dressed in skirts - very Chandni Chowk - while the latter is dark, sultry yet sexy and sinister. ‘‘Both are very chic and sophisticated,’’ explains Odedra. Also the colour palette has helped make the characters and their locales distinctive.
Odedra says, ‘‘Delhi is muted, yet rich in colour. Everything has a very old, dusted, tonal and aged feel. We have used a lot of checked fabrics for Sidhu and Dada is in his muted army colours.
In contrast, Sakhi is in pinks and purples and Meow is dark and somber always, almost! All the fabrics were authentic too, lots of linens, silks, brocades and leather.’’ The greatest compliment for Odedra and his team was when Akshay and Deepika came out in costume, and the Chinese dancers on set clapped and whistled. Let’s see if China indeed becomes the style statement for the season.