Style statements of <i>Guru</i>
By:
Deepa
Gahlot,
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
January
17,
2007
If
one
watches
Guru
and
does
not
particularly
remember
any
single
outfit
Aishwarya
Rai
wears,
it
is
actually
a
triumph
for
the
designer.
Stylist
Nikhaar
Dhawan
has
done
a
good
job
and
resisted
the
temptation
of
being
show-offy,
except
perhaps
in
the
short
portion
in
Turkey,
where
Abhishek
Bachchan
as
a
simple
village
boy,
Gurukant
Desai,
working
hard
in
an
alien
land
at
low
end
jobs
is
much
too
stylish
-
practically
modeling
a
full
range
of
jackets,
suits
and
hats
from
the
fifties.
Finally, as a powerful industrialist he is seen wearing safari suits, the comfortable but ghastly looking outfit, so favoured by bureaucrats at one time (mostly in the 80s and 90s). Anyone seen wearing a safari suit now-unless he is actually in a safari in the wilds of Africa-would be immediately dismissed as a fashion fossil.
Abhishek, also carries dhotis very well, so does Mithun Chakraborty in the role of a Gandhian newspaper baron. When first see, he is wearing a rolled up dhoti, socks, shoes and a broad-brimmed black hat! A perfect picture of a wealthy, eccentric Bengali gentleman, who wears what he pleases and doesn't give a hoot for style. In contrast the old money Parsi businessman, Arzan Contractor is seen in British style plus fours (which one reads about so much in PG Wodehouse novels) on the golf course and later in a linen suit, that would be trendy even today. Not to miss the scene in which he and his father are seen at a Parsi wedding in the traditional dagli and feta-a nice touch that.
Which brings one to Aishwarya Rai's outfits. She is first seen in the chaniya and backless choli which rural Gujarati women wear, for practical reasons of weather, and no thought of sex appeal. That Aishwarya looks undeniably sexy is another matter, even though the colours were not too attractive.
The sari she is wearing in the scene where she comes to see off Guru at the station is bright and embroidered, but after that till the striking black sari in the end, and some glittery costumes in the Bin Tere song, she is wearing saris and blouses that ordinary Gujarati housewives would wear, the fabric (from cotton to silk), the cut of the blouse and amount of jewellery altering according to her rising social status.
Guru would also send a shudder down the spines of the stylish-the very mention of the word 'polyester' - which in the "Only Vimal" period became an instant hit with the working classes for its easy maintenance and drip-dry quality, and got rid forever of the traditional fabrics, weaves and styles that Mumbai's vibrant migrant communities had brought the city. Polyester standardized everyone. In a scene in the film, a furious Mithun makes his peon strip off his polyester (from Guru's factory) uniform and fling it into the waste bin.... If only turning the clock back was so easy.
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