She’s the woman behind the befikre look and feel of the lead pair in Aditya Chopra’s Befikre, but Natalie Yuksel will probably be best remembered for making Ranveer Singh strut around in just a red thong with a bunny motif! The Paris-based stylist tells t2 about her Bollywood debut.

Befikre is shot in France, and Ranveer and Vaani are looking so fresh. Is that how Paris dresses? Casual chic?

Very much so, yes. First of all, it is more about the script and then adapting it to a French way of dressing. I chose to do that and treated each character in segments. Vaani as Shyra and Ranveer as Dharam… as their characters evolve, their wardrobes evolve. In the first part of Vaani’s wardrobe, there is a sense of freedom in the way she dresses. As she goes into the second segment of her change, she becomes effectively a lot more Parisian and a lot of the things she wears, you would see on the street.

Ranveer is a Delhi boy, he has a certain look which I think is very different and by the end of the film his character evolves so much. He becomes very French and very hot and very desirable! That’s definitely the way people dress here. I wanted it sexy where you see Shyra in shorts and a T-shirt but not obviously sexy. I didn’t want her in a skimpy, glamorous dress because for me that is not who Shyra is.

Costumes are so important in constructing a character… it was important for me to push the boundaries and may be propose something that would not be evident from the first instance. Shyra is carefree and that really comes across but as her character evolves, her style changes... because may be she is a little bit more comfortable, has less to prove, but is still carefree, in a different way. It is effectively very different from what Vaani Kapoor would wear in everyday life. Her hair, the two tones, the fact that she has rings on her fingers… there is something quite boundary-pushing about it. It’s all about not caring.

Ranveer Singh has an eclectic style. Did he have inputs?

To be very frank, he was very trusting. We both had a precise idea of how his character should be. I now understand what his taste is. He is winning awards and some of them for being best dressed. I think Ranveer understands that clothing is a part of his character. In Bajirao (Mastani), it was the same and this film is also the same. I have lived in Paris for 14 years… he trusted that aesthetic. There are funny quirks, like you’ll see him wearing a bathrobe in the film… that character demanded that…. He wanted something more fitted.

Well, his briefs have been making news!

We wanted to make it very eye-catching, Ranveer was very happy to work our brief and we were very happy. It was just the collaboration of Adi and me and then asking for Ranveer’s opinions… it was teamwork.

Ranveer really comes across as someone with no inhibitions. What did you think of him?

I just think Ranveer is a ray of sunshine. We’ve spent a lot of time together prepping and just getting to know each other… hanging out… that was really cool. He’s full of energy. He is like a Duracell battery.

What was Bollywood for you?

I thought it was colourful, joyous, a lot of emotions, very opulent in its costumes… lots of jewellery… kind of very rich. The interesting thing about this experience was it was modern… the wardrobe in Befikre is modern apart from the last segment where I designed costumes for the dancers and then I used Indian Bollywood references and modern-day European cabaret shows from Paris in the 1930s for example… that was me channelling the kind of opulence I had in mind. It was interesting because it didn’t follow what my idea of Bollywood was. Once I started to work on the project, I researched a lot of Bollywood films and there actually are lots of modern-day Bollywood films. They are not the typical connotation that we have of Bollywood films… opulent, dramatic and theatrical.

How many full Hindi films have you watched so far?

Oh gosh! Three may be. I had the pleasure of watching Bajirao (Mastani) in Mumbai. Adi took me to see it and was very kind to explain the storyline. That was a real feast for the eyes. It turned my preconceived notions on their head because it wasn’t just singing and dancing with 20 girls. There was a real story. Adi’s personal commentary was fun! I also watched Dil Dhadakne Do and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Then I watched excerpts of the really famous film (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) that Adi directed with Shah Rukh Khan…

DDLJ is iconic and is synonymous with Aditya Chopra…

I loved it! It’s a love story. What I like about Adi’s work from the little that I know of it is he takes important scenes and breaks them down for the audience and makes it digestible and real and something one can relate to. I think he has done the same with Befikre. It’s very of the time, focuses on modern-day society.

If you had to go desi-contemporary with Bollywood aesthetics, what would you wear?

I think a beautiful, ornate lehnga with embroidery and I will probably pair it with a beautiful white shirt, fitted, and wonderful earrings. That’s how I’d twist it!

Finally, what is befikre fashion for you? And is that what the style statement should be?

It’s literally about not spending too much time worrying about what you are wearing. Putting something on, it looking good and you being carefree about it and you owning what you are wearing. Clothes are a very important factor in conveying our mood, our feeling. That’s really what I tried to achieve in the wardrobes of Befikre. There was this idea of putting it together, especially the second and third part of Vaani and Ranveer’s wardrobe… I wanted to have chunks of clothing that could work interchangeably. This top with this bottom… just a sense of coherence. It’s not about spending hours finding a look as it were.

Saionee Chakraborty

Tips for young girls to battle body-image issues

Be an individual. That is definitely the long-term strategy. It is really important to understand that a lot of work goes into making an image or even making a film; there is a retouching process. Understand who you are; that would make you strong and not make you care about what you are expected to do.