Lake View Road’s Subarna Ray Chaudhuri won praise and plaudits for Sonakshi Sinha’s look as a spunky Bengali woman of the 1950s in Lootera. This Friday, the Subarna-Sonakshi jodi returns with Tevar. A t2 chat with Subarna on Tevar and beyond.
So how has it been working with Sonakshi in Tevar?
Sonakshi is very flexible and experimental. She wants to try out different looks from different parts of India. She wants to get out of the typical Indian look. In Tevar, I have done the costumes for Sonakshi and the rest of the cast, but not for Arjun (Kapoor), though Kunal Rawal (Arjun’s costume designer) consulted me. We have had many extensive meetings together so that there is a balance in the looks of the two characters. I had told Kunal that the boys in Agra wear sneakers without socks and pull up their track pants. He followed that with Arjun’s look.
Could you decode Sonakshi’s look in Tevar for our readers?
Sonakshi plays a simple girl from Agra-Mathura. In that region, girls dress simply and at the same time, they are very comfortable in what they wear. When they go to college, they wear kurtas with sneakers and kurtis and denims with sports shoes. I have used a lot of jeggings for Sonakshi’s character Radhika. Girls from these places have naturally pretty faces. I didn’t do anything to clutter that with too many costumes and accessories. Sonakshi sports a hassle-free and a very minimalistic look. I have given her cardigans with kurtas. I bought fabric from Mathura and combined it with the fabric that I bought from Mumbai.
Sonakshi wears traditional accessories, particularly a nose pin, in Tevar. What was the thought behind that and also her hair and make-up in the film?
Some of her kurtas are made of T-shirt material that makes her look leaner. I have given her a silver Lord Krishna chain that she wears throughout the film and also a nose pin. She also wears a ring and a watch and carries a typical jhola from Agra. I have given her a scrunched-hair look with a braid, but her hair isn’t blow-dried hair... her hair is an out-of-the-bed kind of a look.
THE RADHA NACHEGI LOOK
Sonakshi wore a lehnga-choli. It is more of a portrait of Radha. Her outfit is made of ivory white fabric with gold zardozi and gota embroidery with a sequinned churidar that had gold payal attached to it. It is like a body suit with motifs and embroideries. I have designed the entire look of the song. When we had a meeting with Remo D’Souza (choreographer), I had made an entire PowerPoint presentation explaining the looks of all the junior artistes, extras, dancers, dholwalas and other characters in the song. I gave the idea of putting in peacock dancers in the song, as they are very famous in Agra.
The colour scheme symbolises Agra and Mathura. We have given her dark colours such as saffron, wine, maroon, red.... I have made her wear silver sourced from the local shops of Agra. Her footwear is mostly chappals and Converse shoes that she teams with kurtis. Her look is more comfortable than fashionable.
THE LET’S CELEBRATE LOOK
It is a garage song where we have given Sonakshi western outfits. The whole song happens in an imaginary world. We kept the rest of the dancers in jumpsuits and track jackets. Sonakshi is wearing leather and looks more of a mechanic (!) with minimal make-up. She is wearing kohl, peach make-up and natural pink lips.
You have a biggie this year — the Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan...
It is a very interesting film. I know the script and it’s a beautiful script. I have given an overall look to the film while Ashley (Lobo) is doing the costumes for Salman Khan. It is a political film (by Kabir Ek Tha Tiger Khan).
And then there is Phantom...
Yes, Phantom (directed by Kabir Khan, starring Saif Ali Khan-Katrina Kaif) is almost done. The poster shoot just happened. One song is left and a music video is yet to be shot. Í have used a lot of shades in Phantom too. That’s what Kabir wanted.
Did you know Subarna when she was in Calcutta? Tell t2@abp.in
