Know Rimple And Harpreet Narula: The Costume Designers For Padmaavat

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Magnificent opulence, top-notch acting, and the Bhansali touch! That’s Padmaavat for you. Oh, I forgot – Padmaavat is a lavishly mounted ode to Rajput honor. Kudos to the film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, along with the star cast, the technicians, the musicians, the set designers, and let us not forget to mention the costume designer-duo who worked tirelessly to create magic on the silver screen.

Who are they? Deepika Padukone’s dress designers – Rimple and Harpreet Narula who made their Bollywood debut with Padmaavat.

Delhi-based designers, Rimple and Harpreet Narula are the brains who conceptualized the costumes of the lead characters – played by Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

The twosome Rimple and Harpreet Narula spoke to rediff.com about how their costumes are antique and irreplaceable.

In fact, on January 27, Rimple and Harpreet Narula are expected to showcase a few key pieces from the Padmaavat collection at SoPritti exhibition at Roda Al Murooj Hotel in Dubai.
Wow! This is like taking the film story set in Mewar, Rajasthan to global frontiers.

Before the release of the film in theatres, the designers took to social media, to happily explain how each of the attire of the three main leads of the film was put together.

Colors-Scheme Used In Costumes:

Before we get to know Rimple and Harpreet Narula costume designers for Padmaavat, am sure you know the time spent on the costumes in Bhansali’s successful films of the past. Remember Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani.

Rimple and Harpreet spent months finalizing the costume details and putting it together for the film Padmaavat so that the outfits could look authentic.

Wrote Rimple and Harpreet Narula in an Instagram post on the costumes worn by Rani Padmaavati played by Deepika Padukone:

“The extensive use of colors in Rajput attire has connotations associated with culture, religion, and climate of the province with each color having a deep-rooted meaning that was used to convey emotions, seasons, customs, and ceremonial occasions”.

“Kesariya (saffron) and other shades of yellow are extensively used in the attire of both men and women and have since time immemorial been regarded as auspicious colors.

“Traditionally, the color was prepared using saffron leaves and was hence used mostly in the garments of the Rajput aristocracy, given the expensive value of the raw material.”

The color was used in their wedding robes and was also associated with the brave warriors who died fighting on the battlefield.

“For Padmavati’s royal looks we got textiles developed using the before mentioned traditional dyeing methods at crafts clusters near Jaipur to get the right tone of the color so as to maintain the authenticity of the province.”

The color palette for the Rajasthani characters were pastels such as beige and ivory with fabrics sourced from the Indian villages. Both Rimple and Harpreet Narula gathered from their trips to The Calico Museum of Textiles in Gujarat and museums in Jaipur.

“Rajasthan has been a center for embroideries done by women for centuries. Our team visited various clusters in Rajasthan to study the traditional embroideries such as ‘Mukke Ka Kaam’ which is an example of very fine intricate embroidery done by couching gold and silver metal threads over the base fabric. Golden mukke ka kaam used along with red thread edging is known as Raato while silver mukke ka kaam with blue thread edging is called Dhaulo. For the ornate court looks for Deepika, we tried to achieve a vintage, aged effect by mixing both Raato and Dhaulo.”

“The base textiles thus developed, were then ornamented with traditional embroideries including Mukke ka Kaam, Pakko Bharat, Salma and Sitara, Silk Floss thread work using traditional embroidery stitches in various karkhanas spread across Jaipur and Lucknow; and rendered onto the elaborate Odhnas and Ghaghras.”

“The textiles were layered with hand block printing done in Bagru and Sanganer, and Varq Ka Kaam done by specialist artisan clusters in Rajasthan.”

“The draping of the odhnas was done in the traditional way after careful study of miniature paintings as well as murals and frescoes that are still found in various forts/havelis of Rajasthan’s Mewar region that our design team visited.”

A lot of gota patti work can be seen on the lehengas worn by Padukone in the film which weigh almost 30 kgs.

On the motifs part, Deepika Padukone’s dress designer Rimple and Harpreet Narula said:

“The innermost layer of the ghaghra has a special gotta lafa that we got artisans from Nyla near Jaipur to weave using the age-old traditional techniques. The brocades that were used in the ensemble were specially commissioned to master weavers after a careful study of old samples from Aurangabad and Benaras that have been archived at the Calico and Jaipur museums.”

When asked about their experience of working with the main leads, the designers said it was a dream to work with all three, especially Deepika. “Deepika is a dream to work with. She is extremely disciplined when it comes to her craft and willing to go to great lengths to get under the skin of the character.”

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Deepika’s Costume In Ek Dil Ek Jaan Song

In the song Ek Dil Ek Jaan of Padmaavat, the audience is going to love the beige and gold costume worn by Deepika which also has authentic gota embroidery all over it with the ghagra and dupatta made of gota laffas.

Styled with the gold matha patti and haathphool, the Padmaavat dress looks spectacular.

She also looks a quintessential beauty in a gold embroidered pink blouse paired with a dark pink lehenga and a multi-colored dupatta in gold, wine, green, and pink. The maatha patti, Rajasthani nathni, and a pearl choker add to her overall regal look.

Take a look at the Sabyasachi like lehenga sketches with its layered and intricate embroidery details. Beauty lies in details when you know Rimple and Harpreet Narula costume designers for Padmaavat!

Now you know more about the classic and regal appeal of the Padmaavat costumes. Do leave your comments below on the costumes created by Rimple and Harpreet Narula and how they have the potential to go for Oscar nominations this year.

Hey, don’t miss the video of Rimple and Harpreet Narula shared below.