Styling Girish and Shruti for Ramaiya Vastavaiya

By Screen Weekly -

May 15, 2013 - 11:47 AM IST

With more than 150 changes, the costume designers used up all the hues in a colour palette to deck up Girish Kumar and Shruti Haasan in Ramaiya Vastavaiya.

In sync with the theme of a romantic musical, the trailer of Prabhu Dheva's next outing Ramaiya Vastavaiya, starring debutant Girish Kumar and Shruti Haasan shows an eclectic mix of outfits adorned by the leads. "Prabhu sir loves bright colours," confess the film's costume designers, Binal Shah and Jaya Taurani, who believe that they have used every single colour in the colour palette for this film. While Taurani, who also happens to be Kumar's first cousin, was responsible for styling the young actor, Shah, who has worked closely with Haasan in films like Luck and Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, created the looks for the actress. Here's a sneak peek at how they decked up the duo:

Raw deal

Girish Kumar plays a 19-year old NRI from Australia, who is in India to attend a cousin's wedding. "Prabhu sir's brief was to keep his look extremely raw because 19-year olds are not dressed immaculately. He wears everything, from printed T-shirts to striped shirts to jackets to chinos to surfer shorts to jeans. He's so casual that you'll see him wear sky blue blazer with a t-shirt during the wedding ceremony scene. You won't see him wear Indian costumes, except in the climax of the film. Even his hair is not really styled because boys his age don't pay too much attention to grooming", says Taurani. With several songs having close to 30 changes, the actor sports around 150 costume changes in the entire film. "We ran out of costumes within the first month of shoot itself. So Girish and I went to Dubai for a day and a half only to shop for more clothes," recollects Taurani.

Constant Factor

The second half of the film posed a challenge as it has many farm sequences in it. "In every third scene, his costume gets soiled because he either falls in the mud or gets milk spilt on him. We had to keep back-ups of those costumes while shooting," informs Taurani. "Prabhu sir was very sure that Girish should wear only one pair of shoes through the entire second half of the film, and we had bought those from London. So, I asked my friend to specially come down with shoes from U.K.," adds the designer.

Styling Girish and Shruti for Ramaiya Vastavaiya

Desi twist

Since Shruti Haasan plays an educated girl who hails from a village, she was mostly required to wear Indian costumes in the film. "As her character is educated, you won't find her costumes completely rustic. She wears salwar kurtas and lehengas with modern cuts and wide necklines in the film," says Shah.

One of the outfits that stand out in the film is the lehengas that the actress wears for a wedding sequence. "It's yellow and hot pink lehengas that has been draped as a saree with a pink blouse full of intricate geometric designs. Shruti has a beautiful body and a tony waist, so I have also given her silhouette anarkalis that flaunt her waist," she says.

Keeping it simple

Haasan will be seen sporting a wide range of kurtas stitched from fabrics like georgette, net and cotton in bright colours like blue, pink, lilac, peach, yellow, etc. The designer, however, has gone minimalistic with the actress's accessories. "Prabhu sir was very clear that Shruti's styling should be simple and subtle, so we have refrained from using too many accessories. Even during the wedding sequences you will only see her wearing Jhumkas or a delicate Maang tikka. She doesn't wear any heavy jewellery in the film except for a nose ring that looks very pretty on the actress," says Shah.

Screen India

Watch Promo: Ramaiya Vastavaiya