Filmmaker Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year (SOTY) completes ten years of its release today. The coming-of-age film became the talk of the town for its good-looking cast – Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan – who made heads turn with their chic and statement costumes. Fashion designer Manish Malhotra styled the trio and set a precedent for millennial college fashion.
In an exclusive conversation with News18, the designer opens up on styling the new-age actors, his equation with Karan and his favourite looks from the film. He also looks back at the rumours of Sidharth being related to him due to their surnames. Excerpts from the interview:
SOTY completes 10 years today. One of the reasons why the film is still talked about today is its costumes. What was the brief given to you by Karan Johar?
Time flies so fast, it has been a decade since SOTY was released. The film has my heart. I cherish every moment I spent with Karan, Alia, Sidharth, Varun and the entire team. Karan wanted the costumes to be young, stunning, striking and of course, ‘Dharmatic’. I got so many opportunities to experiment with the costumes since the characters were so diverse. Alia as Shanaya is affluent and pampers herself with branded clothes and bags. So, there were a lot of fashion statements that I had to create for her scenes. Her looks had the latest collections of brands like Manolo, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Stella McCartney, Dior bags and Hermes Birkin. On the contrary, Varun plays an aspiring musician, hence quirky prints like Mickey Mouse T-shirts and the like are his statement. Sidharth is dressed a bit more serious, so his looks had to be relatively mellow but still above the cut as I had to portray him as this mysterious, appealing geek.
TOP SHOWSHA VIDEO
What was the key factor you kept in mind while styling the millennial actors?
The beauty of the millennials is that they have no inhibitions when it comes to fashion. They are open to experimenting with their style which makes my work extremely interesting. The fashion in the movie is for the young lot, so I inserted premium brands, bright colours, resort wear styles and destination wedding-themed styles as per the script. Being a Karan Johar movie, all characters had to look stylish, glamorous and wear cool trendy clothes.
How do you define Alia, Varun and Sidharth’s style sensibilities today?
Working with Alia, Varun and Sidharth from the beginning, it feels amazing to see all of them evolve through the years. Whether it comes to their acting or style, they’ve only grown. I’ve styled/designed for them every year. They walked for my shows. Year after year, their fashion sense has evolved beautifully as the actors they are. The trio has grown up to be such wonderful actors and beautiful individuals.
Karan Johar’s films are largely also known for their costumes. Is that an added pressure since the characters in his world convey a lot through their fashion statements?
Karan and I share a very professional bond on sets. We’ve been working with each other for over three decades now and our rapport stands on mutual understanding and unspoken trust. His films have a major quotient of glamour and he unabashedly and unapologetically owns it and I share the same vision when it comes to my clothes. And this spirit is what I have always strived to reflect in the costumes I design for his films.
Is there a particular anecdote that you would want to share while you styled the actors for SOTY?
It’s coincidentally funny actually. Everyone during SOTY thought Sidharth was related to me because of the surname and the genetic jawline, of course, but in actuality, it’s Varun who’s my nephew. His mother is my cousin. So, the irony kind of always made me chuckle.
Do you have a favourite look from the film?
Almost all of them are my favourites. (I love) the baby doll dresses in her grand entry song or the bright red one in Disco Deewane which enhanced her bubbly chic personality. However, the pink and silver lehenga from the Radha song is my favourite as it was the very first time, I designed a lehenga for Alia.
Read all the Latest Movies News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment