Style and fashion in Bollywood have undergone a sea change

When did styling become a substitute for script? I wondered that as I watched Abbas-Mustan’s Players, and found myself marvelling more at the sequined jackets and cool ripped jeans than the incoherent script. This is happening to me more often—in Don 2, Aisha, Anjaana Anjaani, Pyaar Impossible! or Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, I followed the clothes more closely than the plot. Shahrukh Khan’s superbly styled outfits, Sonam Kapoor’s nail colour and Kareena Kapoor’s jackets made a bigger impression. British costume designer Sandy Powell, who has eight Oscar nominations and three wins, was once asked what is key to the art of costume design for film. She replied: “What you are doing is helping create a character. You’re hoping to make a character believable. I think it’s equally important that costumes don’t distract. It would be wrong if someone went to a film and all they could remember were the costumes.” Click here to read more