The prodigal actor
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While she is delighted to receive the award, she is also touched by audience's positive response. This popularity following the film's release may seem accidental, but for the gold-medalist from National School of Drama (NSD), it is perhaps a wake-up call for the industry. "This is my second National Award — I received my first for designing costumes for Bandit Queen (1994)," points out Ahluwalia, who has also created costumes for films such as Omkara, Love Aaj Kal and Midnight's Children. "But neither the industry nor the audience value people who work behind the scenes, be it editors or spot boys. I have shot into limelight after I faced the camera for Vicky Donor," adds Ahluwalia
Although she started out as an actor, having to wait on sets for hours to shoot one scene got to Ahluwalia and she decided to do something more constructive. "My guru, the famous theatre director Ebrahim Alkazi, spotted in me the talent for costume and nudged me in the right direction," she recounts.
A part-time actor, Ahluwalia has been offered several roles recently, but she has decided to stay away from stereotypical characters. Her next screen appearance will be as Deepika Padukone's mother in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, followed by Shashant Shah's next film Bajate Raho.In Ek Sarkari Joota, she will be seen opposite Raghubir Yadav. "In the latter, I play a traditional woman from a Kashmiri village, who rises to the occasion when the need arises," she says, adding that the film will address the issues in the valley.
Ahluwalia, however, is anxiously awaiting the release of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's biopic of athlete Milkha Singh, where she helped recreate the era from the '40s up till the '60s. "We have tried to stay true to the time. However, we have taken some liberties with designs because the film tries to see Milkha Singh but through Farhan Akhtar, so the athlete has been romanticised," she explains.
In order to keep Akhtar's character authentic, Ahluwalia had to do a thorough research, which took her to the museum in Patiala where the coats, jerseys, badges, buttons and shoes of Indian athletes are on display. The costume designer and her team then got the fabrics specially made. But recreating the shoes was the toughest, she adds. "We could not find the correct spikes for the sole until we managed to locate the very man who used to make shoes for Milkha," she says.
Not academically trained in fashion, Ahluwalia derived her costume designing skills from her training at NSD. "I try to live the characters who I have to dress up. Their attitude decides the use of textures, colours and their look. For instance, I use suede or leather in dressing up an aggressive character. In Omkara, Kareena's character wore an anklet because it had a child-like innocence," she explains.
For her work, Ahluwalia shuttles between Mumbai and her hometown Chandigarh. "My creative space is my Chandigarh residence. It also keeps me close to Delhi where I act in plays sporadically," explains Ahluwalia, who will soon be travelling to several Indian cities with her latest play Jug Jug Jiyo. "This play deals with female foeticide and has two old women in conversation. It will once again have me alongside Kamlesh Gill, who played my mother-in-law in Vicky Donor," adds Ahluwalia.
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