Kai Po Che: Local flavours

After working on a wide variety of films including Rock On!!, Karthik Calling Karthik, Delhi Belly, The Dirty Picture, the award winning costume designer, Niharika Khan is now ready to showcase her talent in Abhishek Kapoor's Kai Po Che. While the film is based on Chetan Bhagat's novel The 3 Mistakes Of My Life, it was the character descriptions in the script rather than the book that inspired Khan's creations. "For me, the script is the Bible because that showcases a director's vision," says Khan. Here's a look at how the designer brought the essence of the film's world through the costumes.

Real search

According to Khan, this film required extensive research since it is a story of three friends set in Gujarat during the early 2000s. "The characters live in the old part of Ahmedabad which has a distinct culture and dressing style. It was important to bring that out in the costumes of the characters. I visited the older parts of Ahmedabad, known as the polls and researched on the kind of fabrics that are pertinent to the area. Moreover, I had to use the prints, textiles and colours available around 10 years back because the film captures that period," says Khan and adds, "Being a hot and dry city, I have used breathable fabrics for all the characters. In terms of the colours, none of them wear extremely bright, neon colours because that does not fit in the film's world. I have used earthy colours like browns and mostly cotton block prints."

Character sketch

Designing the costumes of the three leads — Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Raj Kumar— was quite a challenge, "as I had to reveal their personalities through the costumes," says Khan. For Sushant Singh Rajput, who plays a young cricketer Ishaan, Khan stuck to a casual and relaxed look. "When boys are young, usually their mothers help them with clothes shopping and putting together the outfits. Since Sushant's character lives without a mother, he is quite careless about what he wears. He also plays cricket, so you will mostly see him in shorts and sport shoes because of the comfort factor," says the costume designer. "I have also given him an Indian cricket team jersey because he is a huge fan of the team," adds the designer.

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