FT NEWS

When viewers watched Gehraiyaan for the first time, ahead of the interview, the costumes did not really catch their eye, something one would expect in a film with stars like Deepika Padukone and Ananya Panday. But that’s exactly what Anaita Shroff Adajania, the film’s stylist, set out to do.

On a second watch, however, public noticed the seamlessness in which the clothes subtly underlined and even accentuated the characters — helped Deepika look like yoga instructor Alisha, Ananya slide into Tia’s shoes, and Siddhant play the part of Zain, a young businessman. But, Anaita was careful to never let the clothes catch the eye or claim the limelight from their performances. She never want people to come out of a film and think only of the clothes; it should be the last thing they think of, in a sense. So for her, the true success of work is when actors feel that the stylist have helped them in some way or the other. And she thinks that did happen in Gehraiyaan; She feels the clothes gave them a sense of who they were. And for her, that feels very, very reassuring.

When dressing up Alisha, Anaita said she took inspiration from yoga instructors she knew in her life, lending the character with colour from her own experiences, people she knows, as well as who she is. In fact, Alisha is even seen wearing Anaita’s green jacket as a throw-over in the opening sequence. It’s “not a look”, as Anaita said, “it’s just how she dresses in her daily life.” The stylist also noted that Alisha “does have a strong sense of style, but doesn’t have the means to buy expensive clothes, she can’t prioritise that right now.” 

Her athleisure-centric style, given her profession in the movie, involves a lot of crop tops, bralettes, and high-waist leggings, which, in theory, comes close to Deepika’s personal sense of style which is also athleisure-leaning. But, as Anaita pointed out, “In real life, I think Deepika’s athleisure looks are more of a statement. When you see Alisha, is it more about function. Also, I think Alisha’s character is more demure. Even the palette that I chose for her is more muted, earthy, never a primary color, no neon, no bright colors. The way I styled it was more at-home athleisure rather than going-out athleisure.”

Besides her athleisure looks, Alisha is also seen sailing away in a yacht with Zain as their whirlwind romance gains ground. Even then, Alisha’s look doesn’t shock or seem out of her yoga instructor character. For the now viral song Doobey, and beyond, Anaita said that she played out two fantasies in her head. “You see them getting on and off the boat, sailing off the harbor, and the other one was, of course, in a state of undress, where they’re just constantly whipping off their clothes. And that’s what life is about, because nobody’s seeing you. It’s just the two of you in the middle of the ocean, and it’s beautiful, romantic and passionate. So I think the looks in the yacht oscillates between those two.” 

While Alisha’s style is function-driven, Tia’s style comes from her being born in a wealthy environment. Anaita noted that she imagined Tia to be shy as a kid, a safe dresser, that she carried with her into adulthood. “Tia’s someone who, in my head, was a slightly more reserved at a younger age, not necessarily into fashion, not wanting to experiment much. She was a safer dresser. So the palette is softer, she’s someone who wears more blouses, with well-cut shorts. So in that sense, she’s a safe dresser, and that stems from who she is as a person.”

What binds the style curve of both the female characters in the movie is how it changes with the emotional arch, and the twists and turns of the movie. The clothes tend to disappear more and more as a scene intensifies. “There is a confrontational scene where Alisha goes from her workplace, at a time in her life where she is slightly more successful, to Zain’s office. Over there, she is wearing a lavender spaghetti with wide leg trousers and a scarf belt, because it wasn’t like she knew that she’s going to have an encounter, she just went to work.”

As opposed to Tia, who comes from constant wealth, Siddhant Chaturvedi’s Zain is someone who has climbed the ladder and crossed the hurdles to be where he is, and that reflects in his style. As a young businessman, Zain’s style straddles the fine line of business casual, wherein he wears a t-shirt and shorts to show a property in Alibaug and isn’t into suits in the boardroom, keeping it relatable for the millennial professionals going back to the workplace with a more relaxed sense of clothing after two years of work-from-home and wearing casuals, which is what Dhairya Karwa’s character Karan’s wardrobe, a writer working from home, is all about.

“For me, it is all about finding individuality, the subtle nuances of a character, bringing it out there, and also understanding why someone is dressing in a particular way. Every accessory is hand-picked, looks are put together from head-to-toe because every look tells a story for a particular scene and emotion that we want to achieve. And I feel it’s important to remove things that are not necessary,” said Anaita, adding that even though people love a statement look, she hoped that after Gehraiyaan, there will be a shift to realistic glamour when it comes to the fashion in Bollywood movies. “It doesn’t have to be devoid of glamour, so, realism, with whatever necessary glamour needs to be there.”