A stitch too many: When clothes dominated over content in Bollywood

Some films keep the actresses more busy changing their clothes than reading out their dialogues The latest instance is Anushka Sharma who will have over 140 costume changes in Anurag Kashyap film Bombay VelvetAnushka Sharma who plays a jazz singer in Bombay Velvet is apparently undergoing hundreds of costume changes in the film order to reinforce her characters glamorous avatarNiharika Khan the costume designer of the film says that since Anushka plays a jazz singer in the film her costumes have to reflect her glamorous lifestyle ldquoHer character leads this regular daily life and then she has this life as a stage singer All this means that her character needs a lot of costume changes Besides it is a film that spans over two decadesrdquo says Khan adding that Anushkarsquos look needs to dwell on retro glamour and that her costumes will accordingly have a Parisian touch to themPriyanka Chopra changed into more than a 100 costumes when she played a supermodel in Fashion 2008All about the roleIt may be pointed out here that Vidya Balan had about 100 odd costume changes in the film The Dirty Picture The film was loosely inspired from the life of southern actress Silk Smitha Interestingly it was Khan again who had styled Vidya in that film She says ldquoShe played an actress in the film so it was about her costumes in and out of the film scenes Besides when you are a star you cannot repeat a costume as you are always in the public eyerdquoSonam Kapoor donned more than 100 costumes in Aisha 2010In her 2010 film Action Replayy Aishwarya RaiBachchanrsquos character had more than 125 costume changes In fact the wrap up shoot alone had the actress doing nine dress changes Vipul Shah the filmrsquos director told hitlist at that time that her costume changes were necessary as Ashrsquos character loves to dress up and is shown having a weakness for clothes ldquoItrsquos a script requirement thatrsquos how her character is etched out She is simply a person who loves to wear clothes and keeps shopping all the time I had no clue that the number of costumes had extended to such a number that the girl who was managing her costumes kept coming to me for more and more space to keep them Thatrsquos when I realised that the number had gone so highrdquo Shah had said back thenAishwarya RaiBachchan had more than 125 costume changes in Action Replayy 2010Glamour doesnrsquot hurtSonam Kapoor who is known as a style icon had more than 100 costume changes in her 2010 film Aisha In the film an Indian adaptation of Jane Austenrsquos novel Emma Sonam played a Delhibased fashionista who is also a matchmaker Given that the capital is much more fashion conscious than Mumbai it should come as no surprise that Sonamrsquos character in the film had so many costume changesVidya Balan wore 100 different outfits in The Dirty Picture 2011To add to this it has emerged that the actress will again have umpteen costume changes in her forthcoming home production Khubsoorat She plays a physiotherapist in the film A spokesperson for the film says ldquoWe donrsquot want to talk about the costume changes in the film we wish to stay away from that discussion Of course in Aisha there were many changes and we take pride in working with incredible people who come up with really good costume designs In Khubsoorat we are introducing another amazing talent here Karuna Languani will capture the essence of urban desi girlrsquorsquoEven in the 2008 film Fashion Priyanka Choprarsquos character had more than 100 costume changes In the film the actress played a small town girl who comes to the city and becomes a supermodel Kangna Ranaut had about 35 to 40 changes in itWhy so many changesIt canrsquot be denied that so many costume changes only add to the filmrsquos production costs So is it justified expenditure Designer Ashley Rebello says ldquoCostume changes are needed particularly if the story spans a certain period of time Also todayrsquos actors and actresses want to follow the script to the t they want to do what is right for their character in the film For instance in Dabangg Sonakshi had ten costume changes in the song Tere mast mast do nainrsquorsquo