Over the last month, a series of ‘Making of Thugs of Hindostan ( TOH )’ videos on YouTube have unveiled the three years of hard work that went into creating the Yash Raj Films’ magnum opus directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya that released on November 8. Discussing his costume for the film in one video, Aamir Khan says, “For Firangi, other than the dhoti that he wears, everything else he’s robbed from somewhere.” Ironically, since the earliest posters of TOH were shared — which follows the conflict between a thug named Khudabaksh (Amitabh Bachchan) fighting the East India Company and their ally Firangi (Aamir Khan) — TOH has been relentlessly compared to the adventure swashbuckler franchise Pirates of the Caribbean .
Look test
TOH’s production designer Sumit Basu and the film’s costume designer-duo Manoshi Nath and Rushi Sharma rubbished the similitude in a chat with The Hindu . “[People] try to look for the familiar,” said Nath, “Somebody in Allahabad [or] in Meerut [is] not comparing because they have no parallel to draw. They are very happy with this look.” Sharma added, “They are comparing it to something which is beautiful. If our work can be compared to [costume designer] Colleen Atwood’s, it’s a big compliment” — she said, referring to Firangi bearing a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland (2010) and the film’s sequel Alice through the Looking Glass (2016).
“I have not seen Pirates [ of the Caribbean ],” said Basu before the three burst into laughter. “As far as designing is concerned, [we were clear about not using] any cinematic reference,” he emphasised. Alternatively, Nath and Sharma followed Basu’s process of crafting their work from research and paintings of the period. For instance, Basu based his visuals for Dhoom 3 (2013) in surrealist artist Marc Chagall’s work.
Recreating the past
For TOH , a film set in 1795, Basu turned to the American Orientalist Edwin Lord Weeks — an artist who meticulously documented scenes from his travels to India. But Weeks’ voyages were made nearly a century after the film’s setting. Similarly, while Nath and Sharma relied heavily on the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts — a trust dedicated to the study and preservation of Indian cultural history — for their general groundwork, they also derived their costumes from European paintings. The costume designer-duo were inspired by the works of Austrian artist Rudolf Swoboda who travelled to India in 1886, English artist and writer Emily Eden who lived in India between 1836 and 1842, and the Fraser Album — a set of paintings commissioned by British civil servant William Fraser from 1815 to 1819. While their inspiration spanned numerous decades of Indian history, Nath and Sharma were more specific about the uniform of British officers.
“We got a lot of questions answered from the Victoria [and] Albert Museum in London,” shared Sharma. “We wanted to stay true to history especially [when it came to] the reality of the period as far as the British Empire was concerned. because that is something we all relate to — every Indian reacts to that red uniform,” she said. Additionally, the duo styled their sepoy uniforms on information they found in a small museum in Bikaner.
Character driven
Historical accuracy isn’t the goal of the film, and Nath elucidates the relationship audiences have with film costumes. “We know we are not making a documentary here,” she said, “[The costumes have] to be appealing. Eventually you are making a film for the audience.” Nath and Sharma also shared that they did not want the film to be rooted to a region. “We have stuck to fairly neutral silhouettes,” says Nath. “One is trying to be true to the period, but the other part of it is trying to create a suspension of reality,” she continued, “But we were sure we did not want the film to belong to any region.”
Instead, the costumes were derived from detailed character sketches. “Viktor [Acharya] wrote the characters really well,” explained Nath, “and the minute you have layers in the character is when you can do layering in costumes also.” Sharma added, “Firangi is mysterious — he changes his colour according to who is in front of him. So we have used contrasting fabrics — an Englishman tailcoat combined with a weathered cotton dhoti . These elements really bring out the duality of this character.”
The most challenging aspect for the stylists was fashioning costumes that would work in action sequences. “We had to crack a solution for how Khudabaksh [Amitabh Bachchan] would wear heavy armour in the rain while doing action.” For Basu, it was transforming “a small drawing on paper in the YRF office [in]to two big floating ships [in Malta]”. Basu replicated Thailand’s Tham Lot cave in Mumbai’s Film City for the song ‘Vashmalle’. “[It was] because of the impact it might have on the [ecosystem] of that place,” clarified Nath, pointing out that the area was home to numerous snakes, scorpions and spiders.
In the pipeline
The design trio have collaborated before on Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Dhoom 3 (2013) and on Rajkumar Hirani’s PK (2014) — both Aamir Khan-starrers. The former has been often compared to numerous Hollywood films including Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008). As we discuss what is in the pipeline for them, Sharma laughed and said, “We all are signed on the same project!” The three designers will reunite for Karan Malhotra’s Shamshera , starring Ranbir Kapoor, Vaani Kapoor, and Sanjay Dutt.
Published - November 09, 2018 08:28 pm IST
