Cosmo Reads: Journey Through 100 Iconic Bollywood Costumes!

Be it the nude, blue lehenga Preity Zinta wore in Kal Ho Naa Ho or ALL outfits worn by Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania in Veere Di Wedding – you are lying if you didn’t want to steal every single one of them.

And so, fashion journalist Sujata Assomull and illustrator Aparna Ram joined forces courtesy Priya Kapoor, the Editorial Director of Roli Books to come up with a comprehensive guide to Bollywood onscreen fashion for beginners and veteran filmy buffs alike. “There was a method to the madness. Between Aparna, Priya, and me, we thought about all the films that had influenced our fashion decisions and us. I also spoke to well-known film critics Rajeev Masand, Udita Jhunjhunwala as well as people in the fashion industry such as Anaita Shroff Adajania, Nonita Kalra and Nandini Bhalla also to figure out what their views were,” says Sujata.

The colourfully illustrated book begins the style journey from the 1950s with Nadira-starrer Aan, the first non-black-white movie. It ends with the very *fashun* Veere Di Wedding in 2018. As Sujata puts it – From Aan to Veere Di Wedding and that’s almost like A to Z. Apart from extremely beautiful artwork, there are also interesting behind-the-scene happenings that will surely excite all the cinephiles out there.

For instance, Raveena Tandon’s iconic yellow sari outfit for Tip Tip Barse in Mohra was a lesson in the law of physics for her then-costume designer Rocky S. Sujata reveals, “A really interesting fact that I found during the research was about the yellow sari worn by Raveena Tandon. It took 5 days to shoot the song and she was running a fever. The yellow chiffon sari kept shrinking in the rain and getting transparent. So, Rocky S made six replicas of the same sari and had them thickly lined. You can’t even tell!” And, Mumtaz’s zipped-up orange sari had sparked a new fad of dancing-friendly, pre-draped six yards of style.

But Sujata’s own personal filmy fashion journey began with Rekha in Umrao Jaan.

She reminisces asking her mother to enrol her in Kathak classes and wearing Anarkali suits to attend weddings.

Ask her about any of the latest releases that could have made the cut and she says, “Maybe the Gully Boy because Alia Bhatt added a very streetwear vibe to Indian clothes.”

Fashion- check 

Oscar- Awaited!

Publisher: Roli Books

Price: Rs 1,495