Neeta Lulla Opens Up About Aishwarya Rai’s Costumes And Jewellery In Taal On Her Instagram Feed

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Taal was a blockbuster hit film and the movie is about the transformation of a village girl into a larger-than-life glamorous diva. Her outfits in the movie were eclectic and ahead of its time. Neeta Lulla, who has been sharing about her experience as a costume designer for films including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Darr, recently opened up about Aishwarya Rai's costumes in Taal on her Instagram.

The veteran designer shared about three outfits from the movie. About the famous all-white outfit, Neeta Lulla revealed, "Subhashji (Subhash Ghai) as a director has a knack to bring out the rawness of his characters from small towns or villages and then transforming them into larger than life characters. He was very particular that the essence of @aishwaryaraibachchan_arb (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) as a girl from Chamba must come through with her ensembles." She also added that the director (Subhash Ghai) needed the outfits to be very sensuous yet innocent and simple in cotton. So, for the song, Ramta Jogi, Neeta Lulla crafted the outfit for the song in ivory satin. She made a sarong skirt that looked like a lungi-drape with a bustier and a shirt worn over the dress. While the attire was settled, it was the jewellery that became a cumbersome task.

"It was made in a day but the accessories here were the difficult aspect we needed Payal's that were different which were absolutely not available so after a lot of search I decided to buy a necklace in silver with rope strands and convert them into Payals.. sometimes necessity becomes the mother of innovativeness specially when we have time constraints on film projects."

This was rather an interesting output by Neeta Lulla and for those of you who want to make a DIY payal, you can take your lessons from this experience of the costume designer. The second outfit, which she described - the lavender gown, is also fascinating. Neeta Lulla shared how the gown inspired the director to tweak the choreography. "On the day of the shoot when ash (Aishwarya Rai) came on the set in the lavender gown everyone was amused as she swayed the alley passing Subhashji he looked at her and the back of the outfit and started the sequence with her back, this was not part of the initial choreography of the song.."

She also talked about her another popular ensemble from the movie - the azure green outfit. The designer said, "The azure green outfit was one of the grandest outfits of the movie!". Subhash Ghai, as Neeta Lulla revealed wanted to keep the Indian essence alive but wanted contemporary yet magnanimous look, where the colour needed to be dark. The director wanted an ensemble which fits with the lighting and mood of the song. His (the director's) choice was black but the costume designer had azure green in mind, which the director agreed to.

Going with the azure green outfit, the costume designer explained, "The fabric used was an amalgamation of velvet, organza, georgette, and permanent pleating. The embroidery was inspired from Edwardian motifs and the border from fish net. The edges of the outfit embellished with 6'' cutwork mesh handcrafted in bugle beads in gunmetal colour and every intersection had crystals on it and the rest of the lehenga embroidered with sequins crystals and bugle beads."

Also, Neeta Lulla gave us a cool idea with her look. She revealed that instead of using a maangtikka, she played with a glittered centre parting as a statement. So, those of you, who don't have maangtikka and are in a hurry to rush to your friend's wedding, a glittered centre-parting is what you can do instead of putting a maangtikka.

So, didn't you find it so interesting how Aishwarya Rai's costumes were created in Taal? Let us know that.

Image Courtesy: Mukta Arts