The Malayali audience is now celebrating the legend of the good-hearted thief Kochunni and his beloved friend Ithikkara Pakki. As the movie 'Kayamkulam Kochunni' starring Nivin Pauly and Mohnanlal is running to packed theaters, couturier Dhanya Balakrishnan is winning accolades galore as it's she who has designed the costumes of the iconic characters in the movie.
It indeed was a challenge for Dhanya to re-create the costumes and apparels of the 18th century, and she had to dress up two of the big stars. Dhanya, who designed the costumes of the character Sameera played by Parvathy in 'Take Off', had meticulously prepared the costumes and accessories like belt, cap and footwear for Kochunni and Pakki for the mega movie. Dhanya talks about her quests for the costumes that represented a golden era of the past.
Prank call!
Dhanya admits that she had never expected to become a part of such a high profile movie. “One evening I received a call, and the caller introduced himself as Rosshan Andrrews. He said he was planning to do a period movie and asked me whether I was interested to be a part of it. He told me that he really liked the costumes that I did in 'Take Off'. I couldn’t believe it really was him. I thought it was a prank call by someone who was trying to pull my leg,” says Dhanya with a smile. Later, the designer confirmed it really was Rosshan Andrrews when the film maker’s production controller called her and asked her to meet the crew.
When she went to meet Rosshan Andrrews, a large research wing had welcomed her. However, the film-maker asked Dhanya to do a research on her own before zeroing in on the looks, and also the fabrics required to make the costumes. The young costumer says that other than a few paintings and excerpts from books, there weren’t many resources available to provide information about Kochunni who is believed to have lived in the 18th century. Dhanya visited many museums and palaces to have knowledge of the past. It was based on this information that she designed the costumes, ornaments and other accessories which suited each character in the movie.
“Lots of creative discussions and engagements went into the making of this movie. Technicians shared their ideas quite often. Rosshan sir had already given us an idea about how he planned to do the movie. He clearly knew what he wanted from each one of us. It made us comfortable, but equally posed challenges,” notes Dhanya.
Sewing and washing till the end
Women in the era, which is shown in the movie weren’t allowed to cover their breasts. But it wasn't possible for the makers to present women in the same way in the movie. So the style of the costumes of the period just after that were adopted for the movie. The director and the cinematographer agreed with Dhanya’s designs which were mostly in earthy tones and unique texture.
The apparels and clothes were purchased mainly from places like Chennai, Bangalore and the indigenous Payyannur khadi (handloom) too were used. Linen and cotton clothes were dyed in desired colors. A special team led by Muhammed was hired just to dye clothes, which was quite a strenuous job. Only five pairs of clothes could be dyed in one go, and the mixture had to be prepared again to color the next set of costumes. It had to be carefully done as a slight variation in the ratio of the dye or the coloring agent would produce a different hue.
The costume department worked hard to make the costumes look old and worn. They dipped the clothes in a chemical solution, scrubbed with sand paper and beat it on the floor to bring the right texture to the costumes according to the scenes. There are many scenes in the movie which featured hundreds of junior artists. They had to prepare at least 500 sets of clothes for most of the scenes. As the clothes looked old and ugly, most of the junior artists, without realizing the effort which went behind ‘ruining’ the clothes would return it washed, fading its dye. “Some of them would throw away the costumes after wearing it. The washed clothes had to be dyed again. Among the 500 sets of costumes distributed to the junior artists, about 50 pairs of them wouldn’t even come back. We worked hard to arrange the required number of clothes for the next day’s shoot. Sewing and coloring lasted until the very last day of filming,” recalls Dhanya.
‘Stylish’ Pakki
Dhanya had initially imagined dressing Ithikkara Pakki in a traditional mundu and shirt like upper dress. However, no one was cast in the role then. Later, when Mohanlal was zeroed in to play the character, significant changes were made in the costumes as well to suit his personality.
“Pakki is someone who embodies a lot of cultures. So are his followers. He has close ties with the naval officers from different countries. Many accessories he wears are either gifted or stolen by him. Different cultures had to be perfectly brought together in Pakki’s costumes and look. Cotton, linen and handloom were mainly used to prepare the clothes for this character,” reveals Dhanya.
The pants worn by Pakki were done in the style of the old military uniform of the British army. The unique texture of the upper dress made Pakki stand out from the rest of the characters. The costumes and accessories served various purposes for the character. Pakki would draw a knife out of his head gear or use his stylish scarf to strike his enemies, in some of the thrilling fight sequences in the film. The scarves worn by Mohanlal were extra long and the footwear was made of wood.
Kochunni’s costumes and accessories changed as the character transformed. He doesn’t wear heavy costumes with intricate detailing like Pakki. However, Dhanya has managed to design every accessory to aid the character’s heroic ventures, rather than being just a piece of ornament. Actor Babu Antony’s character is depicted as a Muslim who travels a lot. His costumes were designed to suit a traveler and at the same time maintain the pious look of an devout Muslim.
‘Special’ Janaki
The general color palette used in the movie was mostly earthy tones like grey, black, indigo and brown as it suited the era well. However, the character Janaki played by Priya Anand wears clothes in the pleasant shades of blue. “Though not shown in the final cut, Janaki’s character was abducted and taken to the Chinese market to be sold as a slave. To fetch decent price, Janaki is taught the ways of her abductors. That is the reason why blue is given to Janaki. All these were done according to the instructions given by Rosshan sir. He was of the opinion that, though a period movie, it should have the cinematic beauty as well. So, parts of the movie have been fictionalized to bring in the elements of cinematic grace. The natives of Kayamkulam may feel unfamiliar with the places and spaces shown in the film as we have tried to elevate it with unique elements and additions,” explains the designer.
Accessories
The pre-production works of the film began almost two months before the actual filming. It wasn’t easy to arrange the costumes and accessories for so many characters. There was a huge group to sew the clothes manually as there were stitching machines in those days. So, almost all the costumes, especially the ones worn by the central characters were all sewed by hand. It would take at least 3 – 4 hours to sew just a pair of apparel. The accessories like belt, foot wear and ear - studs worn by Kochunni and Pakki were specially made by an artist based in Chennai. Dhanya says, “Despite giving clear instructions, they would sometimes stitch the belt and foot wear by machine. So we had to re do them to match the script. Finding the ear – studs for so many people was really difficult.”
A dream come true
Dhanya confesses that she had always dreamed to design clothes for super star Mohanlal and is thrilled to have gained that opportunity through Kayamkulam Kochunni. “There were rumors about who would play the role of Pakki. It was only in the end that I realized that Lal sir would be essaying that pivotal role. I was very excited. But we had already treated the clothes in chemicals and fixed the accessories by then. I was worried whether he would accept my designs. However, I was a bit relaxed when everyone else consoled me saying that Mohanlal would do anything to make a character perfect. I was nonetheless tensed to meet him and show my designs. He had absolutely no complaints with the costumes. He was extremely humble even to a newcomer like me and had great respect for our profession,” says an excited Dhanya.
Difficult Kochunni
Dhanya admits that making costumes for Kayamkulam Kochunni has been the most stressful job so far in her career. She says, “Many think that a few pairs of faded costumes would be enough for a period movie. However, there are a number of very difficult processes involved in making a piece of cloth look like it belonged to the era which is depicted in the movie. This was the biggest movie in my career. Besides, the movie boasts an amazing star cast as well. I researched for the costumes for almost 5 – 6 months. Though we shot for just 162 days, the entire filming was completed in over 9 months. We stood strong and worked well as a team until the film wrapped up.” Dhanya credits her team members Ramdas, Unni, Kesavan, Kamarudeen, Sasi, Mable and Vishnu for helping her create the most amazing costumes for the period movie.
Designing
Dhanya isn’t sure when she began to dream about pursuing a career in designing. However, after her plus two Dhanya had decided to study designing to make it her profession. But her family had suggested earning a degree in any other subject before venturing into designing. So after her graduation in chemistry, she did a designing course at St. Theresa’s where she met her mentor Praveen Varma. It was him who inspired her to do costumes for movies. He offered her the opportunity to assist him while designing costumes for the movie Sagar Alias Jacky. It was a great learning experience for Dhanya and gave her confidence to pursue it as a career. After completing her course, she did costumes for a few TV commercials. The director of one of those TV commercials that she worked in was Jis Joy who directed the movie Bicycle Thieves. He invited her to do the costumes for that movie and thus Dhanya made her debut as an independent costume designer.
