Designers Rimple and Harpreet Narula reveal their working experience for Sanjay leela Bhansali’s period film Padmavati. Ankita Jain reports
An avid photographer, Harpreet captures whatever catches his fancy - be it a mesmerising medieval monument in Turkey or Islamic architecture in West Asia. And then he and his wife, Rimple Narula, who launched their label in 2000 when they got hitched, goad their team of artisans to do something on those lines. While Harpreet’s strength lies in summarising his own interpretation to the art and craft of West Asia, Rimple’s strength is in giving finishing touches to their collection. And together they have been roped in to design clothes for the lead actors in the forthcoming Sanjay leela Bhansali’s film Padmavati.
The Delhi-based couturier Anju Modi who had worked with Bhansali in his last two films Bajirao Mastani and Ram-leela, have been replaced by designers Rimple and Harpreet Narula. The duo, who came into limelight after their showcase at India Couture Week, 2014, talked about their story of grabbing Padmavati in their kitty, “We got a call from SlB office. I believe they were looking for some new designers to fill up the space, who could fit the exact match for period films like the way he does,” said Rimple. Chipping in Harpreet elaborated, “It was always a dream to do a project like this but we didn’t know that even destiny was looking for us. We were called up by Bhansali wherein he wanted to meet us and see our work. Whatever references we had from our last collection, we put that across his table. Moreover, we quickly built a strong rapport with Bhansali, his design consultants, historians and then there was no looking back.” It was an out of the blue moment for the designer duo when they were signed for the film.
For the period film, Rimple and Harpreet, had real life reference point to make Deepika Padoukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh look fetching. Even then Bhansali, who does not do things in half measures, narrated the script in a slow drawl explaining nuances of important scenes, song picturisation and what he wanted in term of look and feel of garments. The duo have earlier designed for Ranveer and Deepika and are looking forward to work with Shahid in future.
“The story revolves around four different provinces, three majorly: Sinhala kingdom, Chittor and Khilji dynasty. So, Bhansali took all our inputs and made us design the look,” said Harpreet.
“In order to be true to the character and the script, understanding of the story and the protagonist are crucial elements,” added Rimple.
Though they had a blueprint before them, the duo also did their own research, which entailed travelling, reading and studying new work. “For Deepika and Shahid it was clearly the Jaipur museum which helped the most. We also visited Chitor fort and other places. And luckily, our last collection was also inspired by maharajas in the courture week. Fortunately, it was like a blessing where we had already done a lot of homework when it comes to royal and regal families of India. So, we had done a lot of ground work which helped immensely. For the Khelji dynasty, we read many books and talked to historians,” said the duo.
When asked about their take on using Indian handlooms in their work, the duo explained, “We would not define ourselves as designers but more as revivalists. Revitalising old embroidery techniques, restoring antique textiles, breathing new life into the past and presenting it in a modern way, making more contemporary wearable garments is the driving force of our design philosophy. Talking about the film, the clothes are very organic and the way they were supposed to be in the 11th and 12th century. It also incorporates the look of old Srilanka. Indian silk, cotton muls and jute have been extensively used whereas artificial and Chinese fabrics have been completely avoided.” They also shared their working experience with Bhansali, “For a designer to work with Sanjay leela Bhansali and showcase their collection is like a dream come true. It has also helped us go back in history and do some interesting project discovering every character and lifestyles of Indian princesses.”