The empress' new clothes

FASHION: Costumes designed by Neeta Lulla for the film 'Jodhaa Akbar' will be sold through retail chain Samsaara.

Jodhaa Akbar, the film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, has generated both controversy and praise, not to mention the box office that it has set ablaze. And of the many things the film has been praised and watched for "" Hrithik Roshan's magnificent portrayal of Akbar, the cinematography and AR Rehman's music "" the costumes in conjunction with the jewellery have also been a major pull factor for the film.

Spotting the interest that the clothes in the film have evoked, Samsaara, a high-fashion retailer with a presence in five cities including Dubai and Kuwait, has decided to retail 18 of the dresses designed by the film's costume designer Neeta Lulla.

The costumes that will be sold are only for women and come with price tags of between Rs 7,000 and Rs 2 lakh for the lehangas that Aishwarya Rai wore.

Lulla says that when she started the designing work for the film, after having read the script as well as the Akbarnama, her brief to herself was, "to create a look which is believable and which is accepted by the audience." Judging by the response to the costumes, Lulla has succeeded in her endeavour.

Lulla feels that Akbar's era was the ultimate in glamour and that made her job of dressing up the characters, especially the lead pair of Roshan and Rai, easy. Lulla adds, "I did feel that this movie would be a landmark film."

Responding to the question whether the retail customer would buy the film's costumes to wear them in daily life, albeit at special occasions like weddings, Lulla says, "No matter how westernised you get, our Indian look is deep-rooted."

True, Indian brides are yet to step out in the latest hot mini skirt trend on their wedding day.

Lulla, who took almost six months to research the costumes for the entire cast of the film, says that the lack of available research on clothes from that period did not hamper her work.

Post research, it took her two months to get the costumes to the sets of the film.

Given the fact that Bollywood has always created fashion trends in the past, availability of clothes seen in Jodhaa Akbar is likely to work, for who would not like to look like an empress for a day?