Ponniyin Selvan To Cirkus: Stylists On Blurring Lines Between Real And Reel Looks 

Be it Trisha’s heavily embroidered sarees or Vikram’s sharp suits that are often coupled with gold finery, royalty seems to be synonymous with the red carpet wardrobe of Ponniyin Selvan — a successful promotional strategy in its own right. 

Similarly, just a week back, Rima Kallingal only wore classy white sarees for most of her interviews ahead of Neelavelicham (She plays a ghost in the Aashiq Abu film). “When you see any promotional activity, the first thing you notice is how the actor looks. And when these looks have some semblance of the film’s mood, it automatically helps the audience understand what the film is going to be about,” asserts Ponniyin Selvan costume designer Eka Lakhani, who is among the increasing number of stylists to tactfully blur the lines between an actor’s on screen and off screen appearance. 

Costumier Neeta Lulla points out that this trend is recent. “Earlier, a film’s costume designer used to take care of promotions as well. But nowadays stylists are roped in specifically for promotions. Similarly, when I used to style actors for period films such as Jodha Akbar (2009), the actors never wore something that resonated with the film,” she says, citing recent examples of Samantha’s all-white ensembles for Shaakuntalam (2023) and Kanagana vintage looks for Thalaivi (2021).

The importance of costumes in promotions

But what caused this change? Neeta says, “People want audiences to resonate with the look of their film. For instance, if you notice an orange juice advertisement, artists wear orange and yellow coloured clothes that helps viewers resonate with their brand and its colours. The same has happened with film promotions as well.”

The series of pan-Indian promotional tours for Ponniyin Selvan 2 meant that we got to see various pictures of the cast and crew on social media. Remember PS princess Vaanathi aka Sobhita Dhulipala’s golden-orange churidar as the cast enjoyed some Kulfi in Delhi’s heat? Who can forget Vikram’s baggy shirt, which he paired with gold jewellery and sunglasses at the Hyderabad promotions?

“Very often, you may not know the conversation that happened in the press meet but you will know the costumes the actors wore and the film they are promoting. So, the styling of these promotions makes some noise in today’s time where people are constantly scrolling through social media,” says Eka.

Character < Film < Individual Artist

But how much styling is too much styling? In one of her interviews with Baradwaj Rangan, Janhvi Kapoor recalled how she has often been asked to dress down for social media or film promotions— especially when it came to films that saw her play girl-next-door roles — to make viewers buy into her character. Disagreeing with this, the actress said, “Janhvi is promoting Mili (2022) and Mili (her character) is not promoting Mili.”

Mallika Singhania, a fashion influencer, asserts that it is an actor’s personal choice, but she believes that a synergy between the film and its promotions always works better. “This helps audiences gauge what the film is about.”  Both Eka and Shravya Varma (Vikram’s stylist for Ponniyin Selvan 2 promotions) maintain that characters always take a back seat when they ideate for promotions. Shravya says, “Actors are rarely in their element; they always play different characters and sell different stories. So, these events are when they can be themselves and I try to bring their own personality into the process.” 

Breaking down the viral off-screen looks of team Ponniyin Selvan

For Ponniyin Selvan promotions, Shravya has been styling Vikram in clean suits or street-style co-ords, but not without consciously adding elements of fine jewellery. “I am styling Vikram sir in something fashionable and eccentric only because he can carry it beautifully. He has done a lot of versatile roles and can carry both clean looks and fun styles. If I were to style some other person, I wouldn’t do the same. I would style them based on their character. His current hairstyle (which is in keeping with his look for Pa Ranjith’s Thangalaan) calls for funky styling choices,” she notes.

The brief for Trisha was simple, Eka says. “It needs to be classy and elegant and speak about Trisha as a person.” A royal touch in her costumes — be it in terms of jewellery or colour palette — is apparent. “It needs to be royal because it is a period film about the Chola kingdom, and she plays a princess. What if Kundavai were here today? What would we style her in? This was our basic idea.”

Sobhita, on the other hand, took things up a notch by turning up to the audio launch of PS 1 last year in her character Vaanathi’s costume. Eka tells us that it was the actress’s idea. “She wasn’t known much in the Tamil industry then. Fans were excited to see how Trisha would look as Kundavai or Aishwarya Rai as Nandini. But it was a different ball game for Sobhita. So, we felt that if we presented her as Vaanathi, it would help her leave a lasting impression. In addition, Sobhita is someone who likes vintage styles. So, we borrowed a few pieces of Vanathi's jewellery to style her.”

Styling for a pan-Indian multistarrer

Shravya says there are three major factors she considers while styling an actor. The first is the actor’s personality and comfort, the other is a look’s resonance with the film’s ethos. This is also where the city comes into play. “Everything is pan-Indian these days and so we try to cater to the audience of a particular city. It is something as simple as how differently we dress when we go to a temple and a movie.”

She explains this with how the tone of their wardrobe was a little muted when the cast toured cities of Tamil Nadu like Coimbatore and Trichy in contrast to Hyderabad. “In the latter, I went all out for Vikram with an Anamika Khanna suit, fine jewellery, rings and glasses.”

But styling for a multistarrer brings along a fourth and crucial factor. “With so many actors, if everybody brings in their individual style, it might kind of become a hotchpotch. So, Mani sir wanted us to maintain a sense of uniformity,” says Eka.

During the last leg of PS promotions, the actors marked their arrival in Mumbai city with matching black Chola tees. Yet each actor was styled differently. While Karthi (who plays Vanthiyathevan) wore a black blouson over it, Jayam Ravi (who plays Arulmozhi Varman) paired it up with a half-black, half-white jacket and Aishwarya Lekshmi (who plays boatwoman Poonguzhali) matched it with a knee-length pencil skirt. “As for Vikram, I cut up the sleeve of his T-shirt and tied another shirt around him,” says Shravya.

What makes noise?

The detailed process of ideating different styling options for promotions isn’t restricted just to period films. “For Cirkus (2022), which was a fun film, we wanted a retro but playful vibe. Ranveer Singh’s fun outfits for promotions included bell-bottom pants, polka-dotted shirts with frills, and lots of colours. When I style Trisha for Leo (Vijay and Lokesh Kanagaraj’s next) promotions later, we might not take the traditional route, instead, we’ll stick to something that suits the aesthetic of the film,” Eka says.

The ultimate idea is to make some noise, Shravya says. “And the noise can be made in many ways. When we talk about events, things that appear most attractive are what grab the eyeballs. So, one does not always have to wear something outstanding as long as they create buzz.” When she styled Vijay Devarkonda in a lungi for World Famous Lover (2020) or when Vijay chose to wear casual chappals for the press meets of Liger (2022), “It still made noise.”