‘It was amazing to shoot in my hometown, Lucknow’

After designing costumes for Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Mallika Sherawat in 'Guru', Lucknow girl Ameira Punvani wowed the audience in 'Rustom' in which she styled Akshay Kumar, Ileana D’Cruz and Esha Gupta. For Ameira, the Bollywood costume designer and alumnus of Loreto Convent, Lucknow, the best time came when she designed actress Ileana D’Cruz’s clothes for her latest film that was shot in Lucknow last year.
Ameira, who was in Lucknow a couple of days ago, was excited that she finally got to style a Lakhnawi kind of character in a film."It was so amazing to shoot in the city you are born in. I was shooting here with Ajay Devgn and Ileana D’Cruz, and you know, the whole atmosphere at work was so relaxed. And since I was working in my hometown, I had the possibility of doing a little khaatirdaari also of the crew. So every time they said hum yahan se khaana mangwayenge, I would say no-no I’ll tell you where to get it from," says Ameira with a laugh.
Ameira further adds, "So I had sort of become the catering in-charge for Ajay sir and Ileana and the rest of the cast and crew here in Lucknow. I was telling them ki today we’ll get kebabs from here, aaj yahan se biryani laate hain, yahan se kali mirch chicken mangwayenge aur Sakhawat ke yahan ki tamatar ki goli khao. And we used to have chaat every day. So it was like Lucknow khana darshan for me every day for the film crew. Of course I was focusing on my costumes also but it was all real fun shooting in Lucknow."
Ameira Punvani at one of her favourite hangouts in the city at Mall Avenue, Lucknow (BCCL/ Farhan Ahmed Siddiqui)
But work was not far from Ameira’s mind despite being a tour and food guide to Ajay Devgn and Ileana, The girl borrowed extensively from her memories of her family and friends to recreate Ileana's look in the film in which she plays a housewife whose husband gets posted to the city. "Since the film is set in the 1980s, I bounced off a lot of ideas from my mom and replicated her look at that time for Ileana. I remember mummy wearing this white chikan kurta with silver buttons, a white churidaar and a bandhni dupatta in the 80s and I got a similar costume for Ileana for the film," says Ameira, adding, "Since I am from Lucknow, I kind of remember the fashion that was followed in the city in the 80s. I remember saris were majorly favoured by the women in the city at that time. My grandmother and my mom used to wear these starched cotton saris and work the whole day yet there never was a single crease on the sari. That’s the look I have tried to replicate in the film. Of a spunky, witty and smart woman who lends strength to her husband even while being at par with him. The kind of women we have in Lucknow," she says.
Ameira Punvani with Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli at their wedding reception in Tuscany last year (BCCL)
Ameira, who lost her father last year, was still dealing with the loss when friend Anushka Sharma gave her a pleasant surprise. The two have been friends since Ameira designed Anushka's costumes in 'Badmaash Company' several years ago. "With Anushka, it's like we won't talk for months and then suddenly we'll just pick up the phone and catch up from where we’d left off. That's exactly what happened when she just called one day, after nearly a year since we'd spoken, and invited me to her wedding. There was nothing of the sort that 'why didn’t you call me for so many days' or anything of the sort, between us. We reconnected and then I was off to Tuscany with her for her wedding," says Ameira, adding, "The only thing that I can say of Anushka and Virat's wedding is that it was one of the most pure unions I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever been to any wedding, till date, where the energy was so pure. You were just feeling love for the two in your heart. A wedding is more about achha yeh taiyyari karo and yeh khana banwao, what should I wear, how will I look. Nothing of the sort at this wedding. It was so beautifully planned and done. A lot of people must be thinking that there must have been a lot of shosha but nothing of the sort was there because both the families are so simple. It was all just like an old fashioned couple and an absolutely normal wedding. They followed each and every tradition to the T. The haldi, sangeet and every tradition was followed without any compromise. It was actually beautiful and a real catharsis for me," says Ameira, whose pictures with the couple at the wedding and reception had been flashing everywhere on social media.
— Itishree.Misra@timesgroup.com