​Reel Talk
The reel talk began when TikTok stopped ticking
Meme Hub
​Visually connecting though humorous tales
Meme Hub
​Visually connecting though humorous tales
Press to add some music to the show
Kalank : Fashioning Flamboyance
A tragic story of love and war in the Pre-Partition era – made more lucid through the dialect of costumes, curated for the characters infusing life into the period narrative
Kalank’s storyline revolves around the period 1945-1947. Even though the period film is inspired by the India-Pakistan partition era, the designer’s approach to the costuming was a mix of vintage and modern. It is one of the most lavish, big budget period films that got made in recent times
The lead cast of Kalank
​
Image Credits : Kalank
These period films in Bollywood also sees an ensemble cast as it is one of the most alluring factors for the viewers. This Abhishek Varman film released back in 2019 and with Manish Malhotra helming the costume designing department of the film, it comes as no surprise that the collection oozed out richness in heaps and bounds.
Opulence seems to take the centre stage when it comes to period films. Everything is extravagant, dripping with luxurious finery and a befitting landscape of the times being represented. Films have the power of making communication come live on screen with utmost conviction. The starry visuals and the regal portrayals, is what makes this dreamy affair even more stoic, especially in period films.
The art that makes a period film as stupendous as it looks on the silver screen, is an amalgamation of countless factors. Factors culminating something into absolutely spellbinding on the big screen, and in this context, the lavish costumes worn are of utmost interest to the audiences. It is because of this grandeur and the mystical charm of a historic era, that this genre of films has such a massive fan following.
Not only are they interested to find out what the era is known for, the breathtaking clothing is the focal point of interest as they are not what they would usually find in a general commercial film. Costumes are an engrossing tool used in defining the storyline, as most of the times – that is how the viewers recall the characters of the film- through the dresses they wore and that leads to finding out similar styles just so that they can replicate it with a modern touch.
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
The opulent sets of Kalank crafted to represent the fictional town of Heera Mandi
Today, even larger than life period films have to embed certain elements of relevance and credibility when they are zeroing on fabrics, silhouettes, colours and fits for the costumes. Exactly what the designer did too, in order to help in letting the costumes add more depth to the various central characters. Even though the film was as opulent as it could get, the costumes were only slightly period reminiscent whereas the aspect of using it as a narrative weapon was what that was more valuable.
The impressive background score of the film, the cast, a designer as successful and bankable as Manish Malhotra in costume designing for films, and the fact- that this love story was imbued with the classic backdrop of an era where people were torn apart and massacred – all led to creating a frenzy amidst the audiences who were waiting with hawk eyes for this magic to unfold on screen. The art of how a designer assimilated the various layers of the different lead characters through the various costumes is noteworthy.
As you watch the film intently, you will find a lot of ghararas, shararas, salwars and lehengas donned by the female leads in the film. Not only are they reminiscent of the period that is show in the film, but they are also some of the most recent trends that have come back, with a hint of contemporary touch to it. Today bridal wear is replete with stunning lehenga creations and it is not a style trend that was created yesterday.
.png)
.png)
Popular style and textiles from the 1940’s were incorporated into the designing techniques, but with a period film of this stature, one is bound to deflect a bit in order to stick more to the characterization process. Especially in a Bollywood period film which usually has a lot of characters, and each character is distinct from the other, a lot of minute attention needs to be given in the differentiating factors in those personalities and how the use of costumes can help in demarcating that.
Characters
It is imperative that the wardrobe created for each of the characters blend with the script of the film. Costumes act as a way of representation of the specific visual identities.
​
Coming to the 6 lead characters, their personalities were vastly diversified and that is what helped thicken the plot. The cast was dressed with their characters in mind and not just the era they were in.
At the beginning of the film, she is seen in vivid hues – the transition of her life from where she is made to marry an already married man because of the debts the family, has shown a shift in her characterization.
This shift is highlighted by the change in the colour palette of her costumes too. Towards the latter half of the film, as she falls in love, she is dressed more in pastels to represent that romantic phase in her life. Towards the climax of the film where the Partition war takes centre stage and her life sees a lot of upheaval, she is dressed in darker shades to represent that turmoil she goes through.
As for the silhouettes – shararas and ghararas were era-appropriate and were used in the film, however the change in the embellishments were also a part of the narrative as it described the various turmoil's she was going through. While the first half sees her in heavily embellished costumes, as she moves into the romantic phase where her life changes after marriage – the pastel colour palette is seen in outfits like loosely fitted elegant sarees and paunchas suits.
Some of the costumes Alia wore in the films
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
​
Image Credits : Kalank
Zafar’s embroidered pathanis expressed the forlorn, gloomy and deprived character specifics that were written for him. Lots of threadwork, intricate embellishments were also a part of his costumes.
Interesting use of accessories such as the tabeez that he wore around his neck and his kohled eyes represented someone who was wronged by his parents because he was an illegitimate child and thus, had grown up on the streets. His costumes also sees shifts now and then.
Other than being a Casanova roaming around in the streets, there were shots in the film which represented his character as someone who works in the workshop to earn some meagre money, he was simply given white dhoti pants paired with a bare torso. This depicted him as the ironsmith (lauhaar) that he was in that workshop.
Varun Dhawan in his get-up for the film Kalank.
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
Image Credits : Kalank
​
Her colour palette saw deep-coloured hues. The loud shades helped in amplifying the beauty that her character was known for. Her colour palette saw a diversified range from bright orange to subdued pastels to menacing blacks.
However she was always Bejewelled with big earrings, maangtika and neckpieces. Jewellery played an important role in her characterization as it had to exude the royalty that she stood for.
​Her character sketch implied her love for dressing and the designer did an excellent job in representing that with the use of elaborate accessories and heavily embellished shararas and ghararas.
Madhuri Dixit was the most decked up female character in the film.
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
Image Credits : Kalank
​
​Luxurious and heavily embroidered Kashmiri shawls were used by the costume designer to give Balraj Chaudhury’s character the domineering approach it needed to have. Along with the rich pashmina shawls, he wore a lot of nawabis that showed off his regal status.
Something as simple as how he draped those shawls around him or kept them on one side were also extreme minute detailing of characterization done through accessories.
Diamond studs, gold watches, gold-rimmed spectacles were the kind of accessories gives to him because he had to look like his character. He had no dearth of riches and every piece of clothing, fabrics, fits and accessories used for his character depicted that flawlessly.
A man who had a high status in the society and dressed accordingly.
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
​
Image Credits : Kalank
.png)
​Satya’s own share of struggles and precarious predicaments is depicted through the subtle colour palette of her sarees.
She is mostly seen in subtle hues like mint green, pastel pink, light grey except one vivid red saree sequence in the film as that was the only celebration she was a part of, representing the momentary triumphant phase, the colour palette went a notch higher for appropriate character representation.
Her character had to be represented as someone graceful, poised and ready to face the unforeseen challenges of life head on. Thus her silhouettes saw a lot of long sleeves, buttoned down blouses and an elegant pallu.
There were a lot of floral prints seen on her blouses and the shawls she draped. The saree seen on the top left has intricate floral embellishments too.
Sonakshi Sinha had a brief part to play and her characterization was brought about through the colour palette of her sarees.
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
​
Image Credits : Kalank
​
​His noble characterization is depicted through the subtle pastel shaded kurtas and a royal Nehru jacket.
His costuming was perhaps the most simple because he needed to be represented as someone who could be trusted, who was easy to love. His kurtas saw prints, embroidered work, some embellishments in the collar for few of the kurtas.
His simple embroidered kurtas and rimless glasses in certain scenes were the little additions made by the costume designer in order to bring out that clarity in the role he had embodied.
Aditya Roy Kapur's character exuded simplicity and that was well represented through the simple clothing and the subtle colour palette.
Illustration Credits : Khushi Choudhury
Image Credits : Kalank
​
Further on, it was found out that the fabrics and accompanying embroidery were as accurate as it could get to the Pre-partition era.
Manish Malhotra in his response was quoted in Vogue, stating, “We've used cotton, vegetable dyes, chikankari, Mulmul and net. We've incorporated Kashmiri thread work as well as old-world thread embroidery reminiscent of Persia. There's a lot of Chantilly lace and crochet, too.”
These were quite era-appropriate and aided to the enactment of the characters too. Chikankari, Mulmul, Kashmiri thread work were few of the clothing elements that helped in defining the status and depth of the characters immensely.
This is what is meant by coagulating a narrative with the power of clothing fashion in a genre of films where clarity of the narrative can be made interesting in various ways. One would have hardly centralized on how each of these 6 characters were dressed so appropriately. In a period piece, set in a historic era, we usually tend to get derailed from character specifics and be more intent on learning about the history being represented. But if the characters do not establish their identity, the connection can never be formed.
Kalank was a riveting riot of colours, extraordinary wardrobe with profuse amount of contemporary styles mingling with old-school traditional ensembles. Standing erect in support of the need of the hour to focus more on conceptualization and not let the burden of era-appropriateness hinder the creativity that could help the audiences relate to a character better in period films, Kalank remains a masterpiece of modernistic fashion enveloped in vintage finery.
TBZ originals partnered up with Kalank to curate a jewellery collection for the film and have it live on their website. If you want to make a purchase, tap on the link below:
​
A baseless narrative without visual identity often gets us derailed from what the story stands for because it is the differing personalities that is giving a shape to the narrative. And those personas can only be made clearer and tangible in some ways, through the costumes they adorn themselves with, through the accessories that go with them.