Dressing ‘Guru’

Designer Ameira Punvani recollects how Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were draped as a period pair in Mani Ratnam’s film

Aishwarya Rai
She is breathtakingly beautiful, like makhan malai!

‘Guru’ is a period film set between the ‘50s and ‘70s. I approached my friends, the Khilachands, a well-placed Gujarati family in Mumbai, for  reference. I asked for their family photographs belonging to this period.

I zeroed in on Amrish Kilachand’s mother’s photograph. Though she belonged to an orthodox family, she was progressive in her thinking. This tallied with Ash’s character.

It was Ash who pointed out that Gujarati girls wear piercings and small gold balis in their ears. She refused to wear jhumkas.

When she played an unmarried girl, we made her wear mismatched ghagra cholis in khaddar cotton. We used block prints and a lot of orange, which was ‘in’ then.

After her character in film gets married, we made her wear cotton saris worth just Rs 500 and later silk saris. Padding was used on her hips and sleeves to make her look older.

Her hairstyle began with a tight plait and progressed into a bun.

Once, her sari fall came off just before a shot. Mani (Ratnam) sir was upset with the delay. Ash immediately asked for a needle and thread and stitched it back herself.

Abhishek Bachchan
I had to give him a 1960s’ look whilst he is shown in Eden. So we designed double-vested jackets and high-waist, loose trousers.

To play the older character, he took inspiration from his make-up person Ashok Sawant. He asked for a padding on his stomach (to create a paunch) and hips. We were in Badami (Karnataka) then and just had eight hours to begin shooting. We took out dhotis, pillows and made a padding. The temperature there was 45 degrees. But not once did he complain.

For playing the older Gurukant, make-up person Mike Seringer was called from London to define the wrinkles on his face. He put on 11 kilos by eating Mysore pak the whole day.

Mallika Sherawat
She plays a belly dancer in Turkey. We gave her a Rita Haywarth kind of a look.’She’d sleep with clips in her hair to get the wavy, crimped look of the ‘50s.

Mani sir shot her in a cathedral in Turkey in freezing weather. She wore a skirt full of beads, strings and lace. She had to dance for over four days, with her stomach exposed to the cold. She barely ate as she wanted her stomach to look flat.

Her wardrobe included the pencil skirts of the ‘50s, sleeveless shirts with lepel collars, broaches, cat-shaped dark glasses and georgette scarves. She even wore a Marilyn Monroe like red polka-dotted dress.

As told to Farhana Farook

Ameira's showcase

Has done the costumes for films ’Zinda’, ‘Benares’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ (for the additional cast)

Has done costumes for commercials and videos

Retails under her fashion label Shunya that is available in boutiques in India and in Miami, US.