COSTUME DESIGNER ANU PARTHASARATHY INTERVIEW

After my graduation in interior designing, I joined as an assistant in PC Sreeram and Jayendra’s company JS which makes ads. I worked there for three years and learnt all the aspects associated with ad films. I would very categorically say that JS has given me the confidence in my work now. Whatever I am today as regards my profession, I owe it all to JS.

Later I joined Sabu Cyril’s unit and was involved in the Miss World beauty pageant that happened in Bangalore. I have also worked in Priyadarshan sir’s films where Sabu had done art work like Virasat, Saath Rang Ke Sapnae and Pukar.

I wanted to specialize in one particular category and then in 1997, I started my first film as a costume designer teaming with Aneez, wife of late Jeeva. I had a good start, thanks to Jeeva. Through him I got Vaali and Kushi at the same time. Aneez and I had worked in many films as a costumer for Simran, Trisha, Jyotika, Ramya Krishnan. We had also done the costumes for  Prashanth in the seven wonder song in Shankar’s Jeans. Slowly I also diversified into Hindi. 

From then on, it has been a long, fruitful, fulfilling, beautiful journey with different artists, different directors. I have seen assistants becoming directors and I have worked with them all.

Since we are mostly working with artists, the offer will usually come from them through directors. In some case, production houses will directly talk. There could also be director’s references. These are the normal channels.

Firstly, I will have to plan out how many films I will be able to manage in a year. Sometimes when I sign a heavy film like Anegan, I know it will be for a long period because of its magnitude. In the interim, if I get some other project, I will decide based on how I will be able to balance both and do justice. If I am confident, I will take it up. The projects will have to be challenging and exciting too.

It is not necessary that everybody should know everything. The director need not think in a modern fashion. They have already decided on the story and they will give you only a thin line. This is suffice to take it further. They (the directors) have a particular image of how an artist should look like. They would ask for suggestions. I need to bring to unison their thoughts and my ideas. It is all about being very honest and upfront in the meeting. If there is something that I feel will not work out, I will explain and they will understand. It is just a small thread.

I have had many challenging moments in my career. We generally play around with different concepts. In Vaali, for the Nilavai Kondu Vaa number Suryah wanted to try a ‘set’ look for an outdoor number and that required a lot of embroidery work in Simran’s entire costume that included the headgear also. Eight of my staff worked just on the head gear alone. There was so much of intricate work in that.

Azhagam Perumal’s Dum Dum Dum was a Mani Ratnam production and Mani sir used to sit for the discussions. For the Desingu Raja number, he was suggesting that we try a different unattempted look for Jyotika. I enjoyed working for that song. We tried different types of ‘kacham’ and jewelry. We took her look from the books that had the pictures of Tanjore queens. The saree was off-white with maroon border with puff sleeved maroon blouse, with the saree till the knee level only with kemp jewels. We also tried on her ‘kondai’ and made gold plated ‘thaazambu’ to be kept in her hairbun. Then I did Rudraksham jewels for one of her sarees. I was very happy with the result; it was Mani sir’s idea, but he gave me that chance to work upon.

Ramya Krishnan is one actress who works hard on her looks and experiments with it. I did her looks in Panchathanthiram. Her stylish looks were one of the highlights of the film and Ravikumar gave a lot of liberty to work upon.

I have worked on the looks of Trisha, Simran and Jyothika in many films.

The most challenging one was Revathy’s Hindi film Phir Milengae that had Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty. I was asked to give a totally different look to Shilpa who was hitherto known for her stylized costumes and dressing sense. Revathy was keen that I work only in cottons for most of Shilpa’s looks. I worked in Mangalgiris, pure cottons, linens throughout with plain chiffon with simple blouses in a few scenes. To be very honest, Shilpa Shetty does not need any embellishment at all as she is such a stylish personality.

Mani sir’s Guru was extremely challenging. He asked me to dress Vidya Balan and Maddy for the period 1978. Vidya Balan was a wonderful person to work with. I made a lot of references for that period sitting with sir for materials, styles and other related subjects. For Maddy I had given checked shirts, broad ties, high-waisted, slightly flared pants with appropriate watches.

Vidya and I had a good rapport and she was keen that I do her looks in Bhool Bhulaiya, Hindi remake of Chandramukhi. We worked on Bagalpur Tussars, plain sarees with printed blouses for her. She was in a particular look in entire film, but when it came to classical portions, it was Priyan sir’s concept with Sabu sir’s set work. He said, “Let’s mix a little of Odyssey with Bharathnatyam that could be in the outfit or in the jewelry”. I had planned it in the jewelry and kept the outfit traditional. I stitched the classical costumes. Pothys had woven four sarees of the same type. It was mango yellow with maroon border. For jewelry, there were kundan and temple jewelry mix, i.e. basically a mix of north and south. The flower arrangement for the head gear was Odyssey style.

When I decided to do light films, I got a call to do Sivakarthikeyan’s looks in Remo. It is an amazing commercial film, a summer film for children. It is the perfect script for Sivakarthikeyan where he gets to do different characters. This is a heavy project for me. Last year it was Dhanush for Anegan and this year it is going to be Remo for Sivakarthikeyan.

Nayanthara is wonderful and she is doing a great job. For every film, the care she takes for her costumes to accessories, it is amazing. It is very clearly evident be it in her song sequences or the other scenes. She has a clear idea and she is also very strong about the color combinations. She knows which dress should be worn with a boot and which will not go with it. It clearly shows her interest.

My all time favorite is Jyothika- she is absolute class and is lots of style. Even with a simple white shirt and blue jeans, she will look classy. There is no need to accessorize her at all. She looks gorgeous always. She has a distinct style statement. She is not glamorous, she is very real. There is a lot of dignity.

Simran is another actress who has her own style statement. After Simran, it is Nayanthara and after Nayan, you can give it to Amala Paul. Amala’s off screen appearance, be it at an award function or a regular event, the care that she takes on her attire is extremely remarkable. It makes a difference. The attention she takes on her hair styling, make-up and her accessories is praiseworthy.

In men, it is always Suriya. He was the first one to have got into the Bombay fashion. He is extremely good looking and he is open to experimenting. After Suriya, it is Arun Vijay; if you had watched his Thadayara Thaakka and Yennai Arindhaal, you would have realized his amazing sense of styling. He wears simple jackets with amazing style.