EXCLUSIVE: Ashley Rebello Reveals Why He Tweaked Yami Gautam’s Wardrobe In HAQ; Shares, “I Had To Use Vegetable Dyes”

Director Suparn Verma’s HAQ – starring Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi, released earlier this month and has been loved by the audience. While viewers are going gaga over Yami and Emraan’s performances, the duo’s time appropriate ensembles as Shazia Bano and Adv. Mohammad Abbas Khan, respectively is also being loved.

Bollywood Bubble recently interacted with the film’s costume designer Ashley Rebello and quizzed him at length about the difficulties he faced while creating the ensembles, the months he invested into making sure the wardrobe was time appropriate and if the actors had an input in what they wore. Scroll below to read snippets of our conversation.

Ashley Rebello: It Took 4-5 Months To Create & Curate All The Ensembles For HAQ

When asked how difficult was it for him to design and style Yami Gautam and Emraan Hashmi in HAQ, Ashley Rebello replied, “I wouldn’t say it was difficult, but the process was long because it took us more than four to five months to curate all the things, do the look tests, dye fabrics, get it embroidered and get crochet done, because people don’t normally crochet nowadays. I had to get friends and aunts to actually sit and crochet the dupattas. You get a very few ready-made ones which look crocheted. It’s all machine-made nowadays, so to get the hand-done ones was a little bit difficult.”

Emraan Hashmi, Yami Gautam’s Nikaah Look In HAQ

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Emraan Hashmi, Yami Gautam’s Nikaah Look In HAQ

He further continued, “But I loved working on this film because it was a look that was creating something from the years gone by. I looked at my mom and dad for inspiration, and also at my cousins and friends. I took all those inspirations together, including people like Bina Kak, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, who really know how to carry these clothes fabulously well.

Ashley: I Had To Dye The Cloth Vegetable Dyes & Age The Fabric Right

When asked if he referred to old movies, shows or documentaries for help in designing the time-appropriate ensembles for HAQ, the film’s costume designer replied, “I did look at a lot of old movies for inspiration, including the ones of Waheeda Rehman ji. Nikaah was one of the earlier movies that I thought was so well styled and beautiful with the elegance and grace that Salma Agha carried in her outfits. That was one of my huge inspirations.”

Emraan Hashmi, Yami Gautam In Time-Appropriate Ensemble In HAQ

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Emraan Hashmi, Yami Gautam In Time-Appropriate Ensemble In HAQ

He added, “Referencing was about the way I interpreted it and how I looked at it. I dyed a lot of the fabrics because you don’t get these fabrics and colours anymore. All the colours are so synthetic today, so I had to dye them with vegetable dyes to get the right gulabi pinks, the right mints and the right peaches and creams, and age the fabric right. That was all quite a task, whether it was for Emraan, Vartika or for Yami Gautam or even for Danish Hussain or Sheeba Chadha.”

Ashley: I Had To Do Some Tweaking To Yami’s Ensembles

On being quizzed whether Yami Gautam have any inputs with regards to the clothes Shazia Banu wore in HAQ or if he had to tweak some ensembles to suit Yami, he admitted, “I did have to do some tweaking because initially when I thought we’ll use these big, huge farshi salwars, I figured that it did not suit Yami. The chooridars and the thinner salwar suited her better. So, we did a lot of that.”

Yami Gautam, Emraan Hashmi In Time-Appropriate Ensemble In HAQ

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Yami Gautam, Emraan Hashmi In Time-Appropriate Ensemble In HAQ

He continued, “I also made Emraan’s kurtas much shorter because people used to wear a lot of knee-length kurtas at that time and not as long they wear it now. Afghani-style Pathaan-like salwars for Emraan were inspired a lot from Lucknowi style and the chickenkari. All these little things I had to take into consideration, even whether it was a mother or the sisters, be it in the chand balis, the pasas, or the nose rings. Everything was taken into consideration.”

About Ashley Rebello

Ashley Rebello is a very well known Indian costume designer who has worked in several popular Bollywood films in a career spanning more two decades. He began his career with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander in 1992 and has since provided the costumes for films such as Andaz Apna Apna, Dabangg, Ek Tha Tiger, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan and many more.

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Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Vartika Singh Opens Up On The Pressure Of Starring Alongside Emraan Hashmi, Yami Gautam In HAQ; Says, “You Don’t Want To Be The Weak Link” 

Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.