Aki Narula on the challenges of designing for Kurbaan

Football shorts made of sari fabric and camouflage combat gear, fashion designer and costume stylist Aki Narula has sure come out with some wacky designs. But for Karan Johar’s Kurbaan, Narula faced a more high-voltage challenge: disemboweling glam gal Kareena Kapoor of the faintest hint of glamour. “Karan was very clear that it was the clothes that belonged to the characters and not vice versa,” says Narula who describes Kurbaan as his most evolved and most challenging piece of work.

But if there’s one thing the designer’s good at, it’s sartorial acrobatics as evidenced by his wildly veering designs from a colourful kurti and dropped-crotch dhoti- sporting Rani Mukerji in Bunty Aur Babli to a svelte, snappy Kareena Kapoor in those wildly yummy minis in Kambakht Ishq.

As a de-glam professor in Delhi, Kapoor wears a lot of V-neck sweaters, crushed skirts with kantha or bandhini borders. There is also a montage of jamewar shawls and dupattas woven in Banaras. The look is teamed with oxidised silver jewellery from Janpath and a handbag from Delhi Haat. The twinge of colour is sapped in the second half when her character, Avantika, falls in love with Ehsaan played by Saif Ali Khan, and she moves to New York. “Her wardrobe wasn’t overhauled completely as she would have naturally taken most of her Delhi clothes to New York,” reasons Narula. Ergo, a dulled colour palette, keeping the Indian weaves and jewellery, and adding camel and beige trench coats, oversized parkas, sweat pants and boots. Her New York look has a carefully orchestrated negligence about it. “The situation takes such a turn that it is almost as if Avantika doesn’t care about what she’s wearing,” explains the stylist.

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