“Dreams do come true and God is watching”, said Neeta Lulla, India’s ace fashion designer with a career spanning over three decades, about the invitation she got from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to attend the Oscars 2021. She is among the 819 celebrities invited to the mega event to be held in April 2021
In an exclusive chat with Opoyi, Lulla recalled that one moment when she had wished to be part of this gala affair. And, here she is.
“It’s so funny that I was there for the look test of Kangana (actor Kangana Ranaut for one of her films) and we were doing her prosthetics. After that, I went to Dolby theatre and took the photo. While sitting on the theatre steps, I said one day I will come back to this theatre for the Oscars.”
Neeta Lulla, who had jokingly disclosed her desire to be at the event before a director and his team at Dolby theatres, saw her dream taking the shape of a reality now.
“I forgot about it (the promise) and the director in fact called to congratulate me, he said that ‘Remember you took that picture and you said that to us’ and I said, ‘YES’ (without naming the director)”
Lulla, who has styled many Bollywood A-listers and designed costumes for over 300 films in more than seven languages, has four National Awards to her credit – In 1991 for “Lamhe” starring late Sridevi; in 2002 for Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Devdas”; in 2009 for Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer “Jodhaa Akbar” and in 2012 for Marathi film “Balgandharva. Her last few works include Ashutosh Gowariker’s war film “Panipat” and Kangana Ranaut’s “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi”. The designer has also styled the likes of Steven Seagal and Tyra Banks.
Neeta, however, feels that “India has created a lot of awareness of themselves especially because of the fact that our prime minister (Narendra Modi) is somebody who everybody looks up to globally and the kind of work that he does has brought India to the forefront.”
“The kind of work that our youth is doing whether it is in IT field or fashion, I have seen that we are working a lot with our heritage fabric, a lot of international designers are also working with heritage fabrics, plus there is exchange of Indian talent to the global market be it on films or be it any kind of sector and the kind of work showcased by all of them put together and the excellence with which the work is being done is getting noticed, that’s why we are at the forefront and that is why we are today being invited for being part of this prestigious event ,” she said.
And probably this is the reason why she wants the younger generation to focus on a few things.
“In India, I would like to tell the fashion aspirants and everybody who is in the field of fashion that this is what takes you very far ahead in life… the fact that over there I would like to showcase that we work on a lot of detailing, we work on lot of our heritage and culture to bring it out, we work on a thin line of realism of the characterization and weave larger than life aspect which is actually the work that films need in terms of projecting what the audiences want to see,” said the designer, who is currently utilising the “self quarantine” time in harnessing her painting skills. She took up the hobby in 2006 and since then has been studying painting and honing her art of painting and has completed 50 to 55 canvases.
What else in the lockdown? Well there’s more, she adds, “I have been cutting 18 hours a day because apart from the family stuff that is actually the housework and cooking, I am also learning new things… to cook and bake.”
While the world is fighting a pandemic, here is one Indian designer who is making all of us proud.
