JOIN USWhat defined Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut’s character in Queen was the aplomb with which Rani, a simple girl from Rajouri Garden, went alone on her honeymoon to Paris after her fiancé dumped her. Perhaps, it was the metamorphosis of her outlook rather than a mere makeover that struck a chord with the audience.
Akangshee Chopra and Karishma Nath closely oversaw Rani’s transformation as these city-based girls made their first foray into the world of cinema as assistant stylists under the guidance of award winning stylists Manoshi Nath and Rushi Sharma.
Even before they stepped out of their college life, students of Pearl Academy, both Akangshee and Karishma, who are in the final semester of Fashion Styling and Image Design course, have a feather in their cap as they contributed to the Delhi leg
of a major commercial success in Bollywood.
Reliving her experience on the sets of Queen, Akangshee says, “It was interesting to see how focussed Kangana was towards her character. She was ready to wear everything that went against her diva-like personality.”
So, where did they figure in the entire equation?
Akangshee explains, “I was handling Kangana’s styling as an assistant. We went sourcing for laces, chappals, embroidered jeans and bell bottoms in the lanes of Lajpat Nagar. In fact, do you remember seeing the first song London thumakda? We had also suggested the use of flowers instead of jewels for the ladies’ sangeet.”
Relating an instance where she had to think on her feet, Karishma shares her learning experience, “You have to understand the character to dress it up accordingly. One day, the director rejected a pre-approved set of clothes on the set. In the next few hours, I had to hunt for three sweaters from Lajpat Nagar Market to get the
scene going.”
Their college projects came in handy, believes Akangshee, citing an interesting project, “In our character-styling and poster-making projects, we are made to read a novel and break down its characters to convert them into their real avatars. So, we transform what’s in a book, in visual terms. That helps a lot in styling a film’s character.”
Following the success of Queen, the duo was offered to work in Raj Kumar Hirani-directed PK, slated for a 2014 release, but they had to miss out on the opportu-nity owing to their last semester in college.