In Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion", actress Priyanka Chopra will be seen in an unbelievable 137 outfits in the film!
Priyanka plays a small-town girl, Meghna Mathur, who goes on to become a supermodel in Mumbai. The dresses support the five subtle but distinct phases her character goes through in the film.
"I wear 137 costumes in 'Fashion', and it was required as my character goes through a huge journey in one-and-a-half years. And we had a lot of montages in the film, a lot of ad commercials and of course fashion shows, which is why the requirement of costumes was so high for my character, " Priyanka told IANS in an interview.
Priyanka is seen flaunting a range of clothes from designer wear, while sashaying down the ramp, to t-shirts and jeans while portraying a model's normal life.
Throwing light on her different looks in the film, she said: "There are five changes that happen to my character in the film. When she comes from Chandigarh, she has a little bit of a small-town kind of styling, then she becomes a model... a little more polished. She then becomes very stylish and then a supermodel.
"When she loses her head, she becomes very arrogant and her make-up becomes darker and a lot more edgy. Then during her downfall, I am devoid of make- up. The resurrection portion is softer because she is scared and broken while trying to regain her self-confidence. We tried all those looks to keep different so that the character's journey looks seamless through the film."
The much-awaited "Fashion" is a take on the Indian fashion industry and also stars Kangana Ranaut, debutante Mugdha Godse, Arbaaz Khan, Arjan Bajwa and many of the who's who of the fashion fraternity.
Taking on Meghna's role was not a cakewalk for the beauty queen-turned-actress, as she had to go for method acting for her character.
"I added on six kilograms to look like a girl from Punjab before shedding it off as the film progresses. I went through a learning process to make my character look real. I had to study the character to live it and the film is looking good, " Priyanka said.
However, not many know that Priyanka was initially apprehensive of signing on for the project and kept it on hold for six months.
"I said yes to 'Fashion' after six months. I wasn't sure about many things when it came to me. Also, I wasn't pretty sure about myself... whether I'd be able to do justice to the role or not. But Madhur showed immense confidence in me and I finally said yes, " she revealed.
The actress was thrilled when she started working as she got to catch up with her old friends from the ramp world during the shooting.
"I got to meet all my old friends - Nayonika (Chatterjee), Diandra (Soares), Bhawna (Sharma) and Lubna (Adams). I got to hang out with them. It brought back so much because Nayonika was the first one who taught me how to walk the ramp and I've always looked up to her with a lot of respect.
"I knew if I was doing this film, she had to be on board. I begged her but she refused to come because she has a young daughter in Delhi and she couldn't come to Mumbai for the entire duration of the film. But I insisted that she be there for every show in the film and she kindly obliged, " the actress said.
The year so far hasn't proved quite successful for Priyanka as all four of her releases - "Love Story 2050", "God Tussi Great Ho", "Chamku" and "Drona" - turned out to be box office duds. The actress, however, does not shy away from her failures and is optimistic about her career.
"Nobody can decide the destiny of a film. My films haven't done well and I haven't shied away from that. I don't think failures really affect careers very much if you are good in the film, " she said.
Priyanka will be next seen in Dharma Productions' "Dostana" and is also shooting for films like "Kaminay" and "What's Your Raashee".
She also has sequels to "Don - The Chase Begins Again" and "Drona" already in her kitty apart from an item number opposite Shah Rukh Khan in "Billo Barber".
