‘We wanted Sushant’s look to be as realistic as possible’
There were special accolades handed out to Raabta’s Sushant Singh Rajput for his amazing performance and for his ultra-realistic period look as a warrior in the film. And a number of people working behind the scenes contributed to his success. The V Renaisaance, a luxury house that specialises in leather craftsmanship, realised the vision of costume designer Maxima Basu, who wanted Sushant’s look to be as realistic as possible and evocative of the era gone by.
The V Renaissance was put together three years ago by an artist trio, including photographer Vipul Amar, graphic designer Gireesh Nair, and psychologist Harsheen Arora. From their mutli- directional backgrounds, The V Renaissance came together to craft costumes never before seen anywhere in the contemporary world.
Speaking to Guardian 20, Vipul Amar said, “When we were approached by Maxima Basu, who conceptualized the past life look in Raabta, the brief she gave us was that we need something which could have been there at that time, which should look exactly it should have at that time, and we need something that’s authentic because the armor was supposed to be the key factor for the character, because the moment armor comes off, the character dies.”
“The film has had extensive research go into it, with the sets, the costumes and looks all specifically designed to recreate an era gone by in an ultra-realistic fashion. In fact, the costume designer Maxima Basu specifically sought out and worked with us. The aesthetics, the fluidity of motion and an intense focus on details which are the hallmarks of our brand became integral to the curation,” said Harsheen Arora.
Basu added: “I approached The V Renaissance for Sushant’s ‘ wild warrior’ look because I wanted a customised detailed leather armor which had a unique look, from the colour and texture of the hide, to the form. It would all be cast in a very specific environment for Jilan, the character Sushant is playing.”
For the V Renaisaance team, it was a different and intriguing idea as in India, they believed, no one can do this. Technically the time taken in leather for this would be atleast 4-5 months, while the time given to them was less than a month, around 20 days. Vipul said, “We believed that this was something no one else could craft so it was an excitement. They wanted the natural feel of the leather, and also they wanted the structuring. Now to structure leather takes months, we first started collecting all the possible elements to bring out the corrosion, to bring out anything else. Finally we brought out a shape that was identical to Sushant’s shape.”
The team took time to study all the effects of corrosion, the design elements, the effects of movement on the armour etc. and then on the 20th day, they finally delivered the product to the team. The team took utmost pleasure in designing the look for Sushant as they were intrigued with the look and the cherry on the top was the idea that Sushant would be wearing their work, who they believed would do complete justice to the design as well as character.
With the excitement and hard work that went into the work for the project, the vision was always clear to make something that has never been seen before in Bollywood or anywhere else, and that’s what the team tried to do.
Indeed the detailing on the armour is so extensive and intrinsic that one can actually see the exquisite leather-smithing and masonry which has gone into the crafting of each piece. As Vipul says, “Each piece was crafted keeping in mind the fluidity of motion and the duress of the natural elements that the character would have had to go through. Each piece has been created without a single seam because we realized that the character would not have had the luxury of threads or needles given the starkness of the terrain and the sheer rawness of the era.”
The dedication, uniqueness and hard work behind this piece are the USP of the V Renaissance, which started with the sole purpose of bringing out things that haven’t been there before. The trio began with designing and wearing their designs which was a unique and intriguing as the trio is. “People started asking us where we got our pieces from, so it became a business as we made the products. Our target was just to keep rotating something which isn’t there, something which is very exciting. We put in loads of research and count in technicalities to figure out a way to work together,” said Vipul.
However, it is to be noted that there is a certain way of treatment of leather, and the design by the V Renaissance was all natural, without any sorts of skin harming chemicals. This was what the team of Raabta was looking for and hence, they met and presented Sushant- the warrior, as someone never seen before and from the era the film was based in.
“I approached The V Renaissance for Sushant’s ‘wild warrior’ look because I wanted a customised detailed leather armor which had a unique look, from the colour and texture of the hide, to the form. It would all be cast in a very specific environment for Jilan, the character Sushant is playing.”