Monday 7 December 2015

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Bajirao Mastani's Dazzling Mughal Dresses

Next week sees the awaited release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest luxury epic, 'Bajirao Mastani', featuring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra, which I'm looking forward to after his last feature, Ram-Leela (with the same trio!)

As always with SLB films, the outfits, jewellery, sets and dances look as amazing as expected, and there's plenty of anticipation for the two main actresses and how they'll play the two Queens in the movie. Set in the 1700s in the Maratha empire, the costumes, which designed by Indian designer Anju Modi, look amazing, and you can really see the designer's creativity.


While I'm not sure what to expect for the storyline of the film itself, I LOVE the costumes and style - there's a range of styles from lenghas, pishwas and nine-yard saris, complete with the luxurious jewellery and details.

One of the first outfits I've seen if from Deepika's song Deewani Mastani, where she is trying to impress the king with his first wife in audience - I loved the take on this outfit which looks elegant yet feminine - especially the turban cap she's wearing which is draped with jewellery.

(This song is apparently the director's tribute to classic movie Mughal-e-Azam's timeless song 'Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya', particularly in the way he emulated the mirrored tiles in the ceiling to show the dancing and swirling of the heroine!)



I love the jewellery she's wearing as well, it could be seen as some as too much jewellery but I think it works - it's balanced out with very simple makeup and hair and a a flowy outfit which balances it out, and it also adds a lot of elegance to the look.



The outfit itself is a 'pishwas' style outfit - a long flowy jacket and dress which is less like an anarkali and more fitted yet flowy - complete with sharara bottoms (two-legged flowy pants) which flow nicely with her dance. I think the colours were lovely too, although it does blend a little too much with the background details rather than standing out.


The other main song I've seen is the duet dance Pinga between the two actresses, which has been compared to Devdas' famous 'Dola re Dola', both which have iconic dance moves between the two actresses in the films. In this song, the women are wearing a traditionally-draped Marathan nine-yard sari, complete with jewellery and flowers in their hair, which looks very well done.


I have to admit though, I was a little less impressed with these outfits - while the style is lovely and suits them, they don't stand out that much and the colours are too similar to each other, there's no iconic styles to them which differentiate them or make them stand out.


I also though that the updo suited Priyanka's face than it suited Deepika, but again the jewellery works well with it and I love the contrast of green bangles added in.



I wasn't able to find many more pictures of the outfits in this film apart from the official images, but I'm sure we'll be able to expect a lot of beautiful pieces once the film is released - below are some of the ones I did manage to find!

I really liked this outfit which I also saw in the trailer worn by Deepika - there's something very regal about it, which also reminds me of the old-style, 'Begum' outfits of the past, which Deepika pulls of well. The outfit is mainly draped shawls and scarves but it looks great and not fussy at all.



Another few outfits I found worn by Deepika are below - again these are soft colours paired with luxurious jewellery and some seriously beautiful embroidery on the outfits - it's all about the detail here and you can see how carefully each look has been put together. I really like how Deepika's face is kept natural - no garish bright lipsticks or colours, just natural glow complimented with gold and pearl jewellery.


Similarly, Priyanka's character is just as ornate, but perhaps a little more sober and mature - she is meant to be the first Queen after all so her outfits are a little less ornate and playful than Deepika's, but the detail is still all there. With her outfits you can see the rich fabrics, the less heavy jewellery which balances her look and makes her look more Queen than bride (in Deepika's case).


I'm liking what I'm seeing so far from this movie, and I'm sure I'll find more - I'll reserve my comments about the actual film until I've seen it, but I'm sure that Bhansali's done an amazing job as always. My favourite outfit so far have been the one from Deepika's song Deewani Mastani purely because it's a funky take on a traditional outfits, but I do love a lot of the saris I've seen as well.

Are you looking forward to this film? Which outfits to you like?

11 comments: