The journey of the Amrapali outfit

Period as a genre is here to stay, whether on the small screen with mythological serials breaking the stranglehold of saas-bahu soaps or unfolding on the big screen with fantasy films like Bahubali and Puli. While these dramas, like most things Indian, have male protagonists, the women, or rather what they wear, are drawing huge attention – and much of it is about the ubiquitous Amrapali outfit, the dhoti drape with a bustier and a dupatta thrown over the head that has travelled down decades of showbiz.

The origins
Bhanu Athaiya, the doyenne of costume design, started it all when she gave actress Vyjayanthimala her look for the title role in Amrapali (1966). “Unlike Buddha, of whom there are many statues to take inspiration from, there was no reference for Amrapali,” remembers the J.J. School of Art gold medallist who has designed costumes for over 100 films and got India its first Oscar with her work for Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1983).

Athaiya took director Lekh Tandon’s concept of the film as a challenge to get the look right. She travelled to the Ajanta caves to study Buddhist frescoes of the era. In fact, so authentic was the look she designed that it became a template for women’s costumes in all period films since. In her trademark modesty, Athaiya gives credit to Vyjayanthimala: “She did justice to the costume. She was a beautiful, trained dancer, and a fine, accomplished actress. This is what brought the costume its legendary status.”

Ask her of what goes around as the Amrapali outfit nowadays and she admits to being more than underwhelmed. “Do these people chasing shortcuts, who say their outfits are the ‘Amrapali’ even know who Amrapali was? Her legendary beauty led citizens of the erstwhile kingdom of Vaishali (today’s Bihar) to select her as the beauty of the year.”

Bikini-Amrapali fusion
Film historian Mukul Joshi says this classic look, with a skin-toned full-sleeved blouse, was worn even by the likes of the late Jayshri Gadkar, the well-known actress who almost always played the mother. “Perhaps, rather than accentuate the actresses’ curves, it was thought wise to tone down their more-than-ample hips. So the dhoti got replaced with a lungi-like garment that had pleats down the centre,” he underlines, as he recalls Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan, the first myth-fantasy series to take Indian TV by storm. “I know people people may find the look and styling for not only Kaushalya (Gadkar) but also Sita (Deepika Chikhalia) quite dowdy now, but that was 28 years ago!”

This look was to be shaken up like little else with the arrival of cabaret costumes of the late 60s and 70s. The huge following of these songs for ‘visual’ appeal meant the two-piece bikini collided with the Amrapali outfit. One of the best examples of this is Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), where Athaiya again donned the designer’s hat. “Zeenat Aman’s character wears skimpy cholis and ghagras but there are scenes in which we can see the bikini-Amrapali outfit too,” says Joshi.

Sridevi in an Amrapali outfit

There are a number of references of the Amrapali outfit for costume designers today, but over three decades ago, the biggest production challenge while filming Utsav (1984), a film based on the 5th Century AD Sanskrit play Mrichakatika, was designing costumes for the era. “Once the film began garnering rave reviews for its look, many — including Rekha who played the lead character Vasantsena — tried to hog credit for it,” laughs Girish Karnad, senior playwright, actor, and director of this classic. “All the credit should go to designers Jayoo and Nachiket Patwardhan who worked hard on the look.”

Jayoo, too, laughs as he recalls Karnad’s brief: “A true depiction of the period at any cost, or get fired.” She says the biggest challenge was creating the evolutionary stage of the modern-day sari. “To me it was like finding the missing link between the Amrapali outfit and the sari. I remember reading every available description, seeing all possible sculptures, and attempting the drapes on myself and all those who were willing to be experimented upon.”

Others like Anu Vardhan, who styled all the characters in Asoka (2001), remember how Utsav became their reference point. “Though Kareena insisted on her regular designer Manish Malhotra, Santosh Sivan told me to give Manish a basic outline for the Amrapali costumes,” She says she still finds Kareena’s look in the song bewitching. “The maroon minimalist outfit is a beautiful contrast with the greenery around.”

Vardhan also explains why she stayed clear of the colourful palette for Amrapali for the character of Ashoka's Buddhist wife Devi (Hrishitaa Bhatt). "She’s Buddhist. We had to accordingly keep it subdued ochre. Though Buddhism was still a relatively younger religion and wasn’t very different from Hinduism in look, for the backdrop of her monastery, we used reds, yellows and, sparingly, saffron."

The Indian film industry is still recovering from the bikini-Amrapali outfit collision as can be seen in recent releases like Baahubali and Puli. Tamannaah Bhatia, who reprised the seductive warrior in Bahubali, says she was floored by her outfits during the look-test itself. “It was conveying grandeur without getting dressy and unreal,” adds the actress, who is all praise for the designer Prashanthi Tipirneni.

The designer herself says she used Raja Ravi Verma paintings as a reference point for the clothes. “I wanted them to flow and accentuate beauty without getting loud to the point of distracting from the story. Right from the beginning I decided no embroidery or heavy stone work would be used and I am glad that worked.”

Small screen follows big
Television followed in the footsteps of the film, with the trend of  mythologicals  from the late ‘80s. It’s not easy replicating the big screen extravaganzas. “Smaller budgets and tighter schedules means that designers have to really scrounge for ways of making things work with very little,” says Nikhat Mariyam Neerushaa, who has been designing for TV shows for over a decade.

Currently working on Suryaputra Karn, she admits she’s tried almost every single variation on the Patiala dhoti.

Vidya Balan in an Amrapali for Dirty Picture

“So much so that for the lower half we’re trying lehengas too. If we use a good scarf/dupatta around the waist it helps play with the look. Also since not many are comfortable with back and shoulder exposing traditional bustiers, blouses are tailored to replicate the bustier look in the front.”

This fan of Athaiya adds that she also liked the look in Shyam Benegal’s TV series Bharat Ek Khoj (She particularly remembers the smouldering Draupadi reprised by Sujata Mehta). “Those’ll be reference points for anyone working on a period look.”

Sunny Leone in an Amrapali outfit

The slim-yet-curvy look that the Amrapali outfit underlines have led to the creation of churidaar-pyjamas being stitched with folds so that it looks draped, a look pulled off with elan by Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture. “You’ll remember her outfit was in a rich pink colour which had a slight slimming effect, it also highlighted body contours as was the demand of the story,” says Neerushaa.

In fact, Balan herself had told this writer during the shoot for The Dirty Picture, “I’ve grown up watching actresses wear Amrapali outfits and rollick in the hills. And here I was, getting to do all of that. The fact that I got to wear a classic costume that’s come down from the silent movie era was really special.”