After we watch interval dramas or fantasy epics, it’s simple to get misplaced within the storytelling, the grandeur, and the emotional arcs. However what typically escapes the highlight, satirically, are the garments.
In Bollywood, costume designing is not only about style; it’s about time-travel, tradition preservation, and cinematic immersion. Some movies have gone all-out, investing crores of their costume price range.
Listed here are a few of the most iconic — and most costly — costumes in Bollywood historical past.
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1. Jodhaa Akbar
The pink bridal lehenga worn by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Jodhaa Akbar has now discovered a everlasting place in international style historical past. Not too long ago added to the Academy Museum’s Color in Movement exhibition, the lehenga is a celebration of India’s textile heritage.
Because the museum famous, “A lehenga match for a queen, designed for the silver display screen.” With an embroidered peacock crafted from jewels and conventional Mughal-era silhouettes, the design course of took months of analysis. Costume designer Neeta Lulla collaborated carefully with director Ashutosh Gowariker and cinematographers to select materials that wouldn’t glare below pure mild. The end result was a palette of rigorously chosen colors for the Mughal and Kachhawa clans, stitched with brocade-like zari embroidery.
The actual showstopper? The jewelry — 300 kg price, designed over 600 days by 200 artisans. Aishwarya’s bridal set alone weighed 3.5 kg, and it’s a feat she’s mentioned was one of many hardest facets of the function, in line with her then interview with The Hindu.
2. Devdas
In Devdas, each swirl of Madhuri Dixit’s dupatta oozed opulence. Designers Neeta Lulla, Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla, and Reza Sharifi crafted costumes that weren’t simply lovely, however traditionally resonant.
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Every of her seems to be reportedly price greater than ₹15 lakhs — a staggering quantity, however each rupee is clear within the embroidery, textiles, and silhouette precision.
It took Deepika Padukone practically three hours to get into the total look, each single day (Nonetheless from Padmaavat)
3. Padmaavat
When Rimple Narula designed Deepika Padukone’s costumes for Padmaavat, she went for authenticity — even when it meant a literal weight on the actress. Deepika’s marriage ceremony lehenga weighed 30 kg and price ₹20 lakhs, as per the designer’s interview with ANI in 2017.
It took the actor practically three hours to get into the total look, each single day, with detailed embroidery together with Mukke ka Kaam, Salma Sitara, and Gokru Dunka methods.
4. Bajirao Mastani
Bajirao Mastani is a visible ode to opulence, and Deepika Padukone’s iconic pale gold outfit within the track Deewani Mastani was maybe probably the most breath-taking.
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Designed by Anju Modi, the flowing ensemble might appear like a lehenga however is definitely cleverly structured pants beneath a flared silhouette. The gold-threaded embroidery, the mirror palace backdrop — all the things labored to evoke Mughal-E-Azam-level grandeur.
Reportedly, Deepika’s wardrobe for the movie price about ₹50 lakhs in whole.
5. Ra.One
When Shah Rukh Khan stepped into his superhero avatar for Ra.One, he didn’t simply play the half — he wore ₹4.5 crore price of it.
“It’s 1,000,000 greenback costume — that’s four-and-a-half crore rupees per costume,” SRK advised Hindustan Instances again in 2010. “And there’s not only one costume, there are 20 such!”
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Crafted utilizing superior supplies for stunts and VFX, the go well with was a mix of tech and tailoring. It stays probably the most costly costumes ever made in Indian cinema.
