Dum Maaro Dum is the song everyone is chanting these days. While the remixed version of this classic is a chart topper, the movie is also one of the most awaited films of the year. And for good reason; it’s got a star cast that includes Abhishek Bachchan, Prateik Babbar, Deepika Padukone, BipashaBasu and Telegu actor Rana Daggubati.
But Falguni Thakore insists there’s another reason everyone should look forward to the movie; the look of the film. Having played a major role in the creation of this look, Falguni reveals the amount of effort that has gone into the film’s conception, styling and art direction.
She’s been a stylist for the last 11 years, her first movie being Kareeb. Since then she has worked on big banner films likeDulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Dev, L.O.C, Hattrick, Taxi no 9211, Paa, Sarkar, Sarkar Raj andAction Replay.
“This film is a cult film and you’ll see what I mean when you watch it. There are lots of interesting characters and their personality comes through their clothes. Abhishek plays ACP Kamat in the movie. He’s a fearless, strong character and his power is defined through his structured clothes. But because the film is set in Goa, we also wanted the laid back Goa feel to be there. So you’ll see Abhi in lots of soft cotton shirts paired with jeans. We made him wear checked shirts over t-shirts, leaving his shirt unbuttoned for the casual Goa look. He’s also sporting a moustache in the movie; something he’s done just once before inRaavan,” she says.
The other leading men in the film are Prateik and Rana. “Prateik plays a regular Goa boy. He’s lazy and so his style of dressing is lazy too. To give him the ‘just out of bed’ look we’ve dressed him in message tees, shorts and chappals. To add a Konkani flavor, we got t-shirts printed with Konkani statements. To display his youth, we’ve given him lots of colorful clothing.”
Rana plays a quiet musician in the film and his look matches his character too. “We gave Rana lots of local kurtas in fabrics like rayon. The color palette for Rana was dull accompanied by solids like deep blue, olive green, mustard and purple. We’ve used shades of purple to convey Rana’s intensity. We’ve also given Rana earthy, wooden jewelry. Rana’s character goes through a transition. He used to be a young laid-back Goan boy like Prateik and so Prateik’s clothes are a reflection of one of Rana’s looks,” she says.
According to Falguni, Rohan Sippy shot the movie with love and not in a hurried manner. He realized that achieving the perfect look would take time and so he gave his team as many days as they required for their work. Rohan began working on this film in December 2009 and it was shot last year. “Rohan paid attention to every last detail. We didn’t just style the lead actors of the film. A lot of thought has gone into the look of all 93 characters. From hair to tattoos to make-up, every character’s look was pre-determined. There’s one particular rave party scene in the movie. The looks of all of the 300 people in the scene were worked upon by the make-up artists and hairstylists. Every scene was recreated to get the perfect ambience. For every big scene there was a team of about 25 make-up, hair and costume artists on set and at any given time, about 6-7 of us were on the set,” she adds.
“I’ve really enjoyed working on this film but this isn’t the first time I’ve worked with a director who’s paid so much attention to detail. I began my career with a Vidhu Vinod Chopra film so from very early on I realized the need to get everything right. Of course, back when I started styling, there were no stores for stylists to source clothes from. There were very few international retail brands in India, back then. Films in those days relied more on costume designers than on stylists. Over the years, the trend has changed and more directors have realized the importance of film stylists,” she adds.
Every good director pays attention to detail but viewers look at the big picture.
We’ll need to wait until 22nd April to see if the Dum Maaro Dum team’s efforts are rewarded by critics and viewers, alike.
