As the film Shakuntala Devi meets with critical acclaim, making it to the top of the charts in Prime Video, the onscreen Shakuntala’s offscreen stylists, Pranay Jaitly and Shounak Amonkar, make heads turn with the looks they have created for Vidya Balan.
Hand-woven saris, retro jump suits, elegant kurtas in indigo dyes, chiffons filled with Manchester florals… every look they created wins hands down in its sheer affinity to the reel character. At the same time delving deep to go “vocal for local” and support small, creative businesses facing near extinction in these Covid-19 times.
Shares the actor, “The idea for the campaign came from the pandemic. While Pranay and Shounak were contemplating the difference between want and need, sustainability and the craft our country offers, I was also experiencing something similar. I saw how many small businesses and brands were suffering the losses, especially those who had lesser to no means of bouncing back.”
And so Vidya Balan, when the promotions of Shakuntala Devi began, decided that she wanted to use her power to support the ones who needed that voice and so the promotion for “Vocal for Local” began in all earnest.
Both Pranay and Shounak have always been supporters of homegrown brands and this initiative gave the perfect opportunity to explore many such small businesses, weaver clusters and sustainable products while planning her promotion looks. From buying saris at the grassroots level to reusing jewellery and blouses they have put together a wardrobe which is sustainable in all ways.
“The wardrobe has been a range of established designers whose support to sustainability has been strong, to small/ medium businesses, upcoming designers and even directly from the artisans. Vidya wanted to be quite casual in her style, since she wasn’t stepping out. The looks have been a mix of classic saris which are Vidya’s comfort zone, but with experimental blouse styles, to dresses, maxis and jumpsuits,” informs Pranay.
From veterans like Anavila, Raw Mango, Urvashi Kaur to lesser known designers like Ayush Kejriwal, Punit Balana, Sreejith Jeevan to the younger breed like studio medium, Prama by Pratima Pandey, to saris bought directly from weavers in Coimbatore and Bengal, the range has been a mix of everything that is hand-made in India.
“The campaign has been started with the awareness that “with power comes responsibility” and what we have tried to achieve is to use their power in the right direction,” concludes Shounik.