"I got a creative kick on doing Salaam-e-Ishq and that is why I promised myself that hereon, I will only design for films only" - Vikram Phadnis 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, January 26, 2007 - 09:03 IST
Celebrity designer Vikram Phadnis has been in the fashion industry for a decade now! He has also done extremely well from himself in Bollywood. In an exclusive interview with IndiaFM, the designer talks about dressing six alluring couples in Nikhil Advani’s glitzy multi-starrer, Salaam-e-ishq.
Tell us something about the look of the movie, Salaam-e-Ishq.
Salaam-e-Ishq is a very character driven movie. When Nikhil Advani first approached me for this film, I realized that it would be a complete challenge doing this film, for the simple reason that there are six different love stories and each love story has a mood board that we stuck to. Obviously we have done costumes according to the colour references and according to the theme and mood boards of the film, which was a very clear-cut brief given by Nikhil Advani.
Did you have any sittings with actors of this film?
I think that once I went through the narration of Salaam-e-Ishq by Nikhil Advani, I sat with each and every artist of the film to describe and to tell them what my references were, and what kind of look I wanted to give them. I think the best part about Salaam-e-Ishq is that we had a brainstorm session with the director, and the actors and the actresses concerned for every story. So I think that worked very beautifully.
| The best part about Salaam-e-Ishq is that we had a brainstorm session with the director and the actors for the costumes. |
Did you get any suggestions from Nikhil?
I think that Salaam-e-Ishq is the efforts that everyone has put together – the technicians, the director, the cinematographer, the set designer. Salaam-e-Ishq could not have been possible by just the efforts of a creative stylist. I think what was most important was the brains that everyone has put in together; that has worked beautifully for the film. Even if it is Govinda, who is playing a taxi driver, I think whenever there was casual scene, worked out a checked-shirt look for him. I think that this whole departmentalizing of the characters of Salaam-e-Ishq fell hand in glove along with the costumes.
How was it working with Nikhil Advani?
I think that Nikhil is a very temperamental director. Nikhil knows exactly what he wants, coming from the school of filmmaking to working with Dharma Productions. I think he has a music sense, he has a script sense, creatively he is a genius, and he knows exactly what he wants. Working with him was both, easy and difficult, easy because he was very clear about what he wanted, difficult because once again he was very clear about what he wanted. So to maneuver him and to mould him to what my thoughts were was quite difficult. But I think we just worked it out beautifully.
| Nikhil has a music sense, he has a script sense, creatively he is a genius, and he knows exactly what he wants. |
Can you tell us a little bit about each character?
Salman and Priyanka’s story is basically a larger-than-life story. Priyanka wants to be an actress, she wants to be a Karan Johar heroine and Salman comes into her life. So everything is very larger than life.
Sohail and Isha are basically two characters who are North Indians. So what I have done for Isha Kopikar is very bright salwar-kurtas. We have done not the normal kind of salwars, we have done very big patiyala salwars as well as broad poncho salwars, very bright kurtas, and contrast dupattas. So you will see lots of colours in her story. Sohail is very boring, wearing shirts with sweaters, very haryanavi kind of a look. Isha’s jewellery is very simple, very roadside, and very basic. There is no drama or costume jewellery that we have done for Isha Kopikar. But we have given her the parandi and we have given her the big bindi and I think she is looking very stunning, because she carried off the entire look beautifully.
Ayesha Takia and Akshye Khanna are socialites, Ayesha Takia dresses like a Delhi-Bombay socialite. So her look is very coordinating, her bags, her shoes, her belts are very well coordinated, her jewellery, the watch that she wears, even if she is wearing a pair of jeans, she has very hip and happening kurta or top. There is nothing much understated, nothing very simple, nothing very muted about Ayesha Takia. Her entire story reviews in blues and greens. In the Akshaye Khanna-Ayesha Takia track, the colour combination is blues-and-greens. Akshaye Khanna is wearing the Armani kind of jackets with shirts. He is a man who is very stylish and that is the whole Delhi-Bombay socialite style, which I think formed Akshaye Khanna and Ayesha Takia’s look.
What we have done for Juhi Chawla and Anil Kapoor is a very boring track, in terms of a very boring story, very dull lives, nothing in the life that is happy, it is all very grey, very white, very cream, there is no colour, there is no happiness, there is nothing. So there is no colour in that track. Even if you see their house in the film, there is not a single flower inside it. Anjana is the very colourful element in their lives, so I only splashed her with colours. Even when she is running across the railway station, she is wearing a red overcoat. She is a dance instructor, so she is wearing blues, greens, yellows, she is very colourful and she comes as the colour into Anil’s life. So we have departmentalized that beautifully. That has worked really well on the screen.
John and Vidya were the most interesting characters in terms of costuming because we have really worked hard on Vidya’s looks. Both are playing news reporters and I wanted them to look different, I wanted to set a look for the reporters. So we brought a lot of floral, kurta fabrics, which are like Rs. 40-50 per meter kind, but nothing very expensive, nothing very lavish, very basic. There are lots of flowing crust skirts and the kurta lengths are all different. Then we have broken the payals and taken the ghungrus of payal, adding it on the strips of her sleeves and necklines. Vidya’s character was the most worked on, there is no jewellery at all but it is very solid kind of flowing skirts and lots of printed kurtis. John is wearing just shirts, ganjis and cargos. He sports a very simple, reporter kind of a look. Govinda and Shanon obviously carry a very simple look.
| In Salaam-e-Ishq, John and Vidya were the most interesting characters in terms of costuming. |
Whose look was the easiest to decide upon?
I think Govinda and Shanon were the easiest ones to decide because their look had to be kept very basic, though for Shanon’s look I had to work a lot with colours but again, it was very basic. So I think it worked beautifully.
What are the other films in pipeline?
I am not doing any other films right now; I am just working on my film that I am planning to direct. I have been waiting for Salaam-e-Ishq to release and I have made a promise to myself that this time I am not going to do costumes in any film if I do not do the full film. I will do one film a year, and I will not design costumes for artists barring a few like Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, and a few of my people for whom I feel that our relationship goes beyond cloth. But otherwise I only want to do full films with the directors who understand the essence of one stylist for the entire film.
If you look at the films like Don, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Salaam-e-Ishq, or any films that are made by big filmmakers or any Ashutosh Govarikar film, you will realize the importance of having a single stylist. When I did Salaam-e-Ishq, there were lots of people who had envisioned using me but Nikhil was very clear, which is why our relationship grew as the film proceeded. I have never worked with John, with Vidya Balan and today I got a creative kick on doing Salaam-e-Ishq and that is why I promised myself that hereon, I will only do full films.
| I got a creative kick on doing Salaam-e-Ishq and that is why I promised myself that hereon, I will only design for full films. |
Have you tried to set any trends through this film?
In Salaam-e-Ishq, I have not tried to set any trends but when you will watch the film you will realize that very sub-consciously, whatever we have done will set a trend. Consciously I have not tried with any actor or actresses to set up a trend. But trust me; everything will be trend-setting in this movie.
You have been in this field for fourteen years, so how is the whole experience?
I love it; it is like Jeena yaha, marna yaha, iske siva jaana kahan? I do not think I can do anything besides cinema industry and entertainment.
Who do you think is the best dressed man in this industry?
Salman Khan, undoubtedly, is the best dressed man in the industry.
What has been in the fashion now?
I do not believe in ins and outs because those are mindsets that designers create for other people but I do not believe in setting trends.
| People would expect me to make a glamorous film; however, I am going to make a very emotional film. |
It was reported that you are planning to make a movie with Madhuri Dixit. Tell us about that.
I am directing my first film, starting in April or May this year. I have not finalized my star cast as yet. It is a very sensitive and emotional film, contrary to what my clothing is about. People would expect me to make a glamorous film; however, I am going to make a very emotional film.
Vikram Phadnis’s filmography
1. God Tussi Great Ho (2007) (under production)
2. Namastey London (2007)
3. Salaam E Ishq (2007)
4. My Bollywood Bride (2006)
5. Rocky: The Rebel (2006)
6. Krrish (2006)
7. Fight Club (2006)
8. Aksar (2006)
9. Jawani Diwani (2006)
10. Anjaane: The Unkown (2006)
11. Shaadi No. 1 (2005)
12. Waqt (2005)
13. Blackmail (2005)
14. Hulchul (2004)
15. Aitraaz (2004)
16. Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha (2004)
17. Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na (2004)
18. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004)
19. Garv (2004)
20. Kuch Naa Kaho (2003)
21. Calcutta Mail (2003)
22. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (2003)
23. Humraaz (2002)
24. Yeh Hai Jalwa (2002)
25. Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (2002)
26. Ajnabee (2001)
27. Dhadkan (2000)
28. Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega... (2000)
29. Khauff (2000)
30. Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999)
31. Dil Kya Kare (1999) |
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