The reason behind Sallu's 1.2cr armour

Salman Khan had six specially designed armours for him for his period film Veer -- each costing a whopping 20 lakh. Designer Ana Singh gives us inside dope...

Are these your most expensive designs?
Yes. Because of the requirement of the film, we ended up doing over 100000 outfits. The first song itself had over 800 and nearly all the songs and major sequences were shot in the same grandeur and style. Director Anil Sharma envisioned this movie as an epic and producer Vijay Galani and me were bewildered at the magnitude of the never-ending requirements.

You were paid a whopping 1 crore for Veer?
Yes, but the magnitude of work was such that it seems balanced now. Vijay Galani had no grief where his costume department was concerned and I had a team of 30 people because on a single day, sometimes we dressed over 1000 people.

Why did a single armour cost 20 lakh?
The armor was a very big task to accomplish. Along with sculptor Gaurav Bhardwaj, who moulds the armours, I created many test armours. Then we finalised a master sample. Then we decided on the materials to be used as once it is made, it can not altered easily. We went on location with two sets of the armourbut we ended up making six sets of the same at Rs 20 lakh per outfit. Before we started designing, I stayed at London and studied armor designs at the National Gallery of Costumes.

What was the brief given to you by Salman?
Salman gave tips on the fit and feel. Comfort factor was also important. Since he has a keen eye for design his suggestions were great. Having achieved what he wanted was a joyous moment, the texture and the incorporating the tribal war sign on the armor gave it an Indian feel and the fact that it was held by raw leather gave it a hand-made look.