Anushka, the Wedding Planner’s Style
Dec 20, 2010 Fashion & Bridal Wear
Costume designer Niharika Khan designed 15 costumes for actress Anushka Sharma who plays the role of Wedding Planner Shruti in Band Baaja Baraat. This was an interesting assignment for Niharika since the film featured weddings set in varied locations—a budget wedding in a middle-class locality in Delhi, a big fat wedding in Sainik Farm and a destination wedding in Rajasthan. Explains Niharika: “Director Maneesh Sharma briefed me to design the wardrobe according to the profile of the wedding. So for upmarket weddings, I chose subtler colors, handmade embroideries in fabrics like real silk, georgette, velvets and chiffon by designers like Varun Bahl, Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahiliani.”
What about the creations for the budget weddings? She explains: “For the first wedding, set in Janakpuri we chose a lime green chiffon mirror work kurta. It was ‘Jhatak’ (in the words of the film) and we added baubles intermittently on the contrast dupatta.” In the second part of the film, Shruti moves to a new turf, Delhi’s elite Sainik Farm. Explains Khan: “For Shruti’s first assignment at Sainik Farm we wanted to show that she has made the effort to wear an outfit that ‘fits’ in with the Sainik Farms style and yet, is something which she loves—rich, colourful and vibrant. It was a purple and orange anarkali. I bought the brocade and border from Vandana Fabrics in Bandra after which it was embroidered and tailored to our specifications.”
For the grand finale i.e. Shruti’s own wedding, the cream gold orange and pink lehenga was designed by Varun Bahl. Says Niharika: “When it’s time for her own wedding, Shruti has evolved. She has travelled, earned money and knows a lot about bridal fashion & style (in the film she helps brides with wedding shopping). For this outfit, most time was spent on the embroideries– birds/peacocks in an oriental inspiration, and after rejecting sample after sample, the perfect size, shape & design for the panel emerged. The blouse was sexy, embroidered and the dupatta in net fabric. After that Varun Bahl weaved his magic.”
Tags: Anushka Sharma, Band Baaja Baraat, costume designer, costumes, dresses, Niharika Khan, Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliai, Varun Bahl, wardrobe
Janakpuri to Sainik Farms: BBB shows Big Fat Weddings in Delhi
Dec 14, 2010 Wedding People & Planners
Band Baaja Baraat (BBB) is a fun movie—for those who enjoy romantic flicks or like anything to do with shaadis. When we heard about the latest release by Yashraj Films with two Wedding Planners in the lead role we were excited, hoping they make a fun yet realistic portrayal on the life and times of people in the shaadi business. The film doesn’t disappoint. They are bang on when it comes to insights on how all families (wedding clients) behave—what they want (or don’t want to), their unreasonable demands and the big bollywood obsession. Equally interesting, are the insights on why so many youngsters want to be a part of the shaadi business—happy, childhood memories of weddings and the chance to eat yummy, delicious shaadi food.
Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) and Shruti (Anushka) are both from middle class families, and like all ambitious youngsters they have big dreams and aspirations. Fresh out of college they embark on a career in Wedding Planning. Shruti’s hard work and creative skills, and Bittoo’s sharp understanding of Dhanda (business) help the duo carve a niche. They quickly establish a name as the budget wedding planners in Janakpuri but Bittoo reminds Shruti that organising weddings in the budget of Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 lakh will take them nowhere, and they need a “high jump” to Sainik Farms. Luckily they gain a foothold in the space of big, fat weddings and they organise the Rs 2 to Rs 5 crore glitzy celebrations at farmhouses. But like life which cannot be a fun, happy celebration always, the film also makes a shift- to focus on Bittoo and Shruti’s differences and their relationship.
There is of course the filmi angle and the lead duo are projected as the super-creative, super-talented, super-efficient professionals. He has the ability to dance and entertain like Shahrukh Khan and manage clients as skilfully as Event magnate Wizcraft. She has the style sense of Manish Malhotra and the creative skills of decor queen Gurleen Puri. Together the duo create magic like India’s ace Wedding Planner Vandana Mohan—all this in a span of less than three years. The music is average and the sets and decor are just so-so. On the fashion front, we quite liked Anushka’s mix of Indian dresses- from dhinchak to rich and elegant worn in her official capacity as Wedding Planner at all the different locales.
Tags: Band Baaja Baraat, Career, Gurleen Puri, Manish Malhotra, Shaadi Business, Shahrukh Khan, Vandana Mohan, Wedding Business, Wedding Planners, Weddings, Wizcraft, Yashraj Films
The Wedding Planners in Band Baaja Baraat (BBB)
Dec 9, 2010 Wedding People & Planners
You often see Wedding Planners in Hollywood movies, but only occasionally in Bollywood movies– where slick and fashionable Wedding Planners conjure exotic themes and decor for picture perfect destinations. An exception was Dubeyji in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. The foul-mouthed Jugaadu decorator, who performed all his tasks in the last-minute, but kept all his promises.
Band Baaja Baraat, a Yashraj Films Production releases on Friday, 10th December and the lead-duo are both Wedding Planners. Actress Anushka Sharma who plays the lead role in this romantic comedy spoke to WeddingSutra on her role: “We play wedding planners but the film is not about wedding planning- it’s just the backdrop. Band Baaja Baraat is a love story where I play the role of Delhi girl Shruti Kakkar. My role didn’t require me to delve too much into the world of weddings—but gain few insights into the typical life of event and wedding managers- so I learnt how to speak fast, give a lot of directions, and repeated instructions quickly. What I really worked on was speaking in a way a Delhi girl would talk. I am from Bangalore and I had to learn a certain lingo—and that was fun.”
We visualise lead actors Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) and Shruti (Anushka) doing those fun, crazy kinda tasks and coping with the unreasonable demands of stressed wedding families. We’re waiting to watch how real their reel roles will be. And since so many youngsters would love to be a Wedding Planner, we hope the film does not just showcase the ‘glamorous’ side of this career.
Tags: Anushka Sharma, Band Baaja Baraat, Bittoo, Bollywood, Career, Dubey, Monsoon Wedding, Ranveer Singh, Shruti, Wedding Planners
