Creating the right look for Dostana

Swimwear, Read More">cargoes and flashy colours on Miami beach – designer duo Aki Narula and Manish Malhotra recount how they got the right look for Dostana Aki Narula ‘I went for a quick recce to Miami to understand the people of Miami in terms of colour and style and to catch the vibe of Miami streetsRead More

Swimwear, cargoes and flashy colours on Miami beach - designer duo Aki Narula and Manish Malhotra recount how they got the right look for Dostana

Aki Narula
'I went for a quick recce to Miami to understand the people of Miami in terms of colour and style and to catch the vibe of Miami streets and beaches and then styled the boys.'

Surfer dude
John is a fashion photographer in the film and for the first time in Indian cinema a mainstream actor has worn shorts throughout the film. While working he's in cargo shorts, at home in boxer shorts and in check shorts otherwise. And when he comes out of the water wearing those famous yellow swimming trunks. I picked up yellow as a contrast to Miami colours - blue ocean, white sand and green palms. He also wears bright coloured tee shirts, raincoats and windcheaters, bare-body gunjees, chappals and flip-flops teamed with mad belts and cool chappals and lots of colourful glasses in orange, yellow, red, blue and white. I have used slogan shirts with messages - like in the song he wears the 'Use condom' slogan - subtle and humorous. John's styling is very Bandra - jhalla and cool - in low-waisted shorts and gunjees

Source: From the streets and small boutiques - to make it look real and accessible. Locally sourced from Miami and Los Angeles.

Street vibe
It's my fourth film with Abhishek (Bunty Aur Babli, Bluffmaster! and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom) so we share a great comfort level. He was always game for eperiments. I have given him the street fashion vibe with a Cuban Mexican feel to it - an explosion of colours from orange and red to green. I have used all the colours of the spectrum on him. I have done a collection of shirts for him that have 30-inch long collars that go round the neck like a scarf. He also wears nice tie dye shirts with big cargo pants with embroidery teamed with bright belts, sneakers and sunglasses.
Abhishek is like South Mumbai guy with hip cool jeans and coloured shirts.

Source: Diesel and Maharishi (a brand of pants), Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie.

Dapper, cool
He's the ultimate, sophisticated dapper guy in suits throughout the film. He gets to wear skinny suits with short jackets and very narrow trousers. A really snug look is in. We went all out for Bobby.
Bobby is like a Juhu guy by the night.

Source: Dolce & Gabbana belts and Gucci shoes.

Screen India

Manish Malhotra Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna were the only two films I have styled entirely. I cannot afford to do whole films any longer since I have a label and a store in Dubai and personal clients like Karisma Kapur, Read More">Kareena Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar – I style clothes forRead More

Manish Malhotra
Kal Ho Naa Ho and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna were the only two films I have styled entirely. I cannot afford to do whole films any longer since I have a label and a store in Dubai and personal clients like Karisma Kapur, Kareena Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar - I style clothes for their public appearances as well as TV appearances.

Desi gal's metallica sheen
All the boys in the film are after Priyanka so her look is the most important. Since in real life and her appearances she opts for a minimal look mostly in black or grey - I decided to give her a total make-over and bring in a riot of colours for her. Two highlights of her look are the golden swimsuit and the silver saree. To offset the gold look, I opted for a subtler grey-silver chiffon saree with self-metalic design (only the petticoat is silver) - it's a western style with a bikini blouse and no jewellery at all for the desi gal.

Shorts are internationally in vogue - Priyanka wears those in satin, silk etc. I picked up golden balloon shorts from the Dolce & Gabbana store, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles and teamed it with a cotton shirt.

Source: We shopped in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami for Priyanka and then reconstructed most of the garments to fit her.

Bouncy babe
The film is based in Miami, so Shilpa also had to have a beachy look, since I had already given Priyanka the shorts - for Shilpa's song, I went for real short skirts. She wears a nice overlap Putcchi black skirt. And then her swimsuit had to be most unusual - it took me 10 days just to pick up the swimwear.

Source: Putcchi label Miami stores.

Screen India