Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Rekha has been here for four years as a stylist and a costume designer. She does very less of personal styling and more of styling for a film though the former fetches one a lot of popularity. She likes dressing characters more than a person because within the line the stylist gets to express their character, their attitude and personality from the costumes they wear. In styling it is all about making them look beautiful or handsome only. Also the person gets to learn a lot more when he or she works for a complete film, be it co-ordination and making each of them look unique. “I have always been a creative person since childhood. When I wanted to study fashion designing after high school, parents said that particular discipline is taken up by those who can’t study and insisted I do a professional course.
I relented as I had this pressure of getting some degree as I come from a family of academicians. I always believe that a person should not have a goal. Life should be a journey towards attaining happiness and satisfaction. We shouldn’t be the target and be a part of the rat race to achieve. The normal and constant question at that time is what is that you are planning to do? We plan a lot of things and it doesn’t happen, do we regret that? If you have a goal, you stop there, you are much bigger than what you know,” says Rekha. Her parents never put pressure on her, they just wanted her to do some professional course but Rekha likes exploring life and seeing the perspective of people. It was fashion, then journalism and something else. They are proud of what Rekha is today.
People adore Rekha’s styling and what she wears. They always ask her if she has studied in NIFT. Her mother told her when she was young that the dress a person wears reveals their personality. Clothes and colours define you, they tell if you are attention seekers or introverts or something else and that made her curious and she began observing people. “I understood all this only later because at the school level we all wore uniforms. A film is less than three hours and we judge the characters but in real life, it is different. I always wondered why we judge people by their appearance and why should we? We wear clothes according to our comfort levels. In Vedam, Allu Arjun is trying to woo a girl pretending to be a rich man. He goes to a footpath and picks clothes and tells himself, idhi telisipoddhi idhi telisipoddhi and finally takes a white T-shirt. That reflects the mindset of a few people. Some people insist on fit, fabric but never a brand in the film industry. I don’t know of actors who ask for brands.”
Does the director narrate the entire story to her? “I ask for the total dialogue version and they ask why. How will I know the depth and personality of the character if I don’t know the story. The outline and the dialogue might not match. If they don’t tell me, I don’t do the project. Goodachari was my first film. I was picked out of nowhere, I was running a small workshop for customised clothes and I bumped into a girl named Indu. She spoke and that evening I got a call. She texted me that I would get a call from Abhishek Pictures. I didn’t even know it was a production house. I met all the people there and told them I don’t know anything, but I am ready to learn. They said if you have the zeal we shall pull it off. I learnt everything on Goodachari. The two lessons Sesh said, you and I will go but our mistakes are for posterity, you can’t correct it and will regret it for life. Director Sashi said if there is a problem or non-sync and if it is shown on screen, then you’ve failed as a technician. I am a trouble shooter stylist for many projects. I did G.O.D and London Babulu. I worked on SIN and now on Major. I don’t have a workshop now, I couldn’t handle it because of my work,” she says.
She states, “I am very choosy about the projects I work and I have always worked with people whom I found to be sensible. You should break the rule that idhe vesukovali. If you dress up appropriately it is enough. No need to show your skin on formal occasions. Unless you are comfortable you can’t carry yourself. I have a healthy environment of discussing with the director, yes or no…I would reason it, I wouldn’t call it justifying. If he doesn’t agree I will say let’s go with what you say. I’m doing Naga Shourya’s archery film produced by North Star. I am styling for the rest of the actors, not Shaurya.”
