Stitching together a dream

Costume designer Mashar Hamsa is fashioning his career in tinsel town with some impressive films in his pocket

October 13, 2017 07:00 pm | Updated 07:00 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

 Mashar Hamsa, costume designer

Mashar Hamsa, costume designer

Mashar Hamsa couldn’t have asked for a better debut as a costume designer in Mollywood — Sameer Thahir’s Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi . Today his portfolio reads films such as Chandrettan Evideya, Kali, Kammattippaadam and Parava . Up next are Anil Radhakrishna Menon’s Diwanji Moola Grand Prix and Anwar Rasheed’s Fahadh Faasil-starrer Trance .

Looking back at his career, the 27-year-old says, “Cinema was my dream and realising one’s dream is a beautiful feeling. I am proud that I worked really hard to fulfil it.”

A native of Thanoor in Malappuram, Mashar admits that he didn’t know much about the world of fashion designing and styling. “My father was a tailor and that’s the only connection I have had with this job. However, my friends and cousins always took me along when they had to purchase new clothes because they liked what I chose for them. Gradually I understood that my interest lay elsewhere and there was no point in doing a regular course. I learnt that one could actually study fashion designing and so I moved to Kochi to do a diploma course in fashion designing.”

Cinema was his goal. The first step towards that was commercials. His initial work was for actor Sijoy Varghese’s production house and in a year he did over 100 ads. It was on one such assignment that he met Sameer and that meeting changed his life.

 Mashar Hamsa designed costumes for Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi

Mashar Hamsa designed costumes for Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi

“I told him that I want to work in films and was looking forward to associate with him. One day, out of the blue, he called me to discuss Neelakasham... And when he told me that I had to design for Dulquer Salmaan, I got scared. I had zero experience in films and didn’t know what to do. Sameer understood my predicament and supported me throughout the making of the film. It was an on-the-job training and I picked up every basic aspect of costume designing on the sets,” he says.

The toughest part in Neelakasham... was finding the perfect leather jacket for Dulquer’s character. “I couldn’t find the jacket Sameer wanted and so I tailored one for Dulquer. Sameer had told me that the jacket would change my life and it did because that jacket was one of the talking points of the film. My career just took off from there,” he recalls with glee.

 A still from Kammattippaadam

A still from Kammattippaadam

While his designs in Chandrettan Evideya and Kali didn’t go unnoticed, it was Rajeev Ravi’s Kammattippaadam that put his flair for clothes to test. “Rajeev insisted I had to make the costumes look as old as possible. He also said that Kochi of yore had its own fashion and I could try out new things without compromising on the realistic feel of the movie. So I referred old wedding albums to know more about the costumes they wore. I tried that out in the shirts worn by different characters, especially in the colours, prints and stitching,” he explains.

Parava was another challenging project and he spent nearly a year working on it. “Soubin [Soubin Shahir, director of Parava ] is like a brother to me. He was very particular about every minute aspect of Parava and there was a lot of detailing in his script. Initially I was quite apprehensive about the project,” he says.

 A still from Parava. Costumes designed by Mashar Hamsa

A still from Parava. Costumes designed by Mashar Hamsa

So Mashar stayed with the team for nearly three months in Mattancherry to understand more about their daily wear — shirts, mundu, lungi, T-shirts, gowns, head scarf and the like. “It was very difficult to find the exact pieces in the market. If at all I got any, they had to look worn out as well. So we had an idea. We went around collecting old and used clothes from the people there and gave them new clothes in return! They couldn’t have asked for a better deal...” smiles Mashar.

He did experiment with Dulquer’s costumes, especially with the shirts he wore. “Even then I could use only polyester material because that’s what they usually wear. I was worried whether Dulquer would complain because the fabric is very uncomfortable. But he was such a great sport.”

So, how would he define his style of work? “I prefer realistic to cinematic. Natural is what I aim at. Trance has an urbane feel, but that doesn’t mean I have gone over the top with the costumes. Even when I design a pucca modern costume, I ensure that it complements the character,” sums up Mashar.

Style speak

* Blue is his favourite shade, followed by the black and white combo.

* He regularly designs outfits for Vinayakan and Soubin Shahir. A fan of Ranveer Singh’s fashion sense, “which is at times crazy”, Mashar says Soubin also loves to experiment with his outfits and accessories.

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