Bollywood gets a taste of high-end fashion in Aisha

Ever drooled over the clothes and styling in a Hollywood film? Now comes an Indian movie that promises to give glimpses of high street fashion in India and set a benchmark for Bollywood.

The film Aisha will see actor Sonam Kapoor wear dresses that are soft and flowery, including a nude tulle flowery dress with a bow and small pearls.

The woman behind the wardrobe is Dubai-based designer Ayesha Depala.

“(In the film) Aisha Kapoor is a girl from Delhi. She loves her clothes and animals. She is very feminine and fashion forward. I could very much relate to her in the movie because she is quintessentially like my brand in many ways,” Depala told IANS.

“My clothes are subtle and reflect the wearer’s personal sense of style. Even a fully beaded couture piece will never be extremely embellished or extremely revealing.

“A woman’s sex appeal lies in her confidence and the clout she has from wearing her outfit as opposed to baring all.”

The promos of Aisha, produced by Anil Kapoor’s daughter Rhea, are very stylish.  The effort that has gone into the clothes may remind the audiences of glamorous-looking movies like The Devil Wears Prada and Sex and the City.

Though the entire look of Aisha has been styled by Pernia Qureshi, who with the help of other designers has successfully given a fresh feel to the film, Depala was in charge of Sonam’s wardrobe.  Depala met Sonam during the Dubai International Film Festival and they clicked on a personal level.

“Sonam and I clicked instantaneously. She liked my work and we talked about dressing her for red carpet appearances. We chatted for a long time, which helped me a lot to know her personally,” said Depala.

“It was long before Aisha happened. One day I got a call from her sister Rhea and she asked me if I would be interested to design for her. So that’s how I got this project,” she said.

“Rhea sent me the script and this helped me know Aisha better. We sent them a few ready-to-wear looks, which they selected and also, I did design a few dresses especially for her with Pernia’s guidance.”

Depala’s creations have also been worn by Shilpa Shetty and Lara Dutta.

The Indian style blog highheelconfidential.com has been salivating over stills from Aisha for a couple of weeks now.

The last film that spawned this much buzz over wardrobe was the 2009 Akshay Kumar - Kareena Kapoor film Kambakkht Ishq, which featured a glamorous wardrobe and a new look for Kapoor, who worked with stylist Aki Narula for the film.

In the 2008 film Luck By Chance, Rishi Kapoor’s character is heard berating the ‘designer to the stars’ Manish Malhotra: “itney chotay kapray hote hain, kitna kapra use hota hai? Yeh sab tum logon ka racket hai!”

While Malhotra has worked on the wardrobes for most big-budget Bollywood films and is a favourite choice for stars to wear off-screen, designers such as Neeta Lulla made her name with films like Lamhe, Taal, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas. Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee was roped in for the wardrobe for the recently released Raavan and the upcoming Sanjay Leela Bhansali film Guzaarish, which stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2010.