Costume Drama

Like every piece of work she gets,this one too was a challenge. Something she had to imagine,create,design and deliver from scratch,for National award-winning costume designer Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari doesn’t believe in starting mid-way. It has to be perfect,and that can only happen if one begins from the roots. After delivering amazing looks and costumes for films like Water,Bandit Queen,Omkara and Partition,Dolly won an Apsara Award for her costumes in Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal. “I designed the flashback look for Saif Ali Khan and Giselli Monteiro,” she smiles,still surprised by this sudden announcement. Looking back,it’s hard work and the many hours put in that have paid off. “It was not an easy task to make Saif look like a convincing Sardar and Giselli,a Brazillian model pull it off as a Punjaban,” Dolly goes back to shooting days,when she worked on Saif’s look,from check shirts,bell-bottom pants,style of turban,his beard,making him stand out in the crowd of other Sikh boys and making him look taller than Giselle! In fact,she was the one who spotted Giselli and suggested her name for the part. “Both Saif and Giselli completely surrendered to me…that made work much easier for I could experiment,” Dolly got down to matching Giselli’s skin tone with a bright Punjabi palette,covering her long arms with full sleeves and making her look like a slender Sardarni. “She too was keen to learn about the mannerisms,colours,language and the look of that time,and her interest helped me,” adds Dolly. Next up are two international projects and Shoojit Sircar’s Johnny Mastana. So,how was it dressing up Amitabh Bachchan? “Well,that’s a whole new story! We only hear about the man’s integrity,professionalism and getting into the character bit,but being with him,working with him is more than wonderful.” We are waiting for this one sure!