When Malayali costumer Dhanya Balakrishnan draped Janhvi Kapoor for 'Devara'

Sparkling water in a pond brimming with exotic white lilies, verdant thickets swathed in mist swaying between shadows and daylight radiance and a love-smitten muse from an unknown land clad in mesmerising mul cotton languishing in a musical trance; any movie enthusiast will be enamoured by these initial scenes of the enchanting song, 'Chuttamalle' in the Telugu film 'Devara' directed by Koratala Siva featuring Junior NTR and Janhvi Kapoor Kapoor in lead roles. The ethereal charm exuded by characters Thankam, Devara and others in the film was in a major way generated by the dexterous craft of a Malayali state award-winning costume designer Dhanya Balakrishanan.

However, the task was not easy. The instruction was to design costumes for period characters. But the time and place remained indistinct. Besides, the apparel had to be freshly patterned and at the same time shouldn't be starkly outlandish. "Thus, I had to make costumes that elicited beauty, quaintness and an exotic charm at the same time. The challenge was huge and the experience was wonderful," says Dhanya.

Dhanya used natural fabrics like cotton and linen in the film, "The story is pitched in a past era and people in that period are unlikely to chemically extract colours, so all the colours used were made of natural dyes." They had to face several hurdles for that as well. The song sequences were shot in small islets in Thaliand.

When the costumes got wet in the pond or in the beach, the colour dissolved in water. "On one occasion, the colour of the costume Janhvi Kapoor wore was bleeding and her leg turned all green," Dhanya recalls, "But Janhvi Kapoor was such a generous person that she ignored it and got on with the shoot. The major problem was that we had to ferry back to the mainland each time for even a slight corrective procedure, like ironing and so on," she said.

The characters' dress had a South Indian influence. The concept of gold was completely done away with while designing the jewellery. However, silver and copper were used. The jewellery was all custom-made by an artist named Rajesh Madathumpadi. All the actors were supportive in keeping the costumes and jewellery genuine and authentic, especially, Janhvi and Saif Ali Khan. Not for just the lead actors, Dhanya designed costumes for all the characters in the film.

While creating a costume, apart from the aesthetics, Dhanya takes into account a number of aspects ranging from their social standing, tastes, economic condition to their mood of the situation plotted in the drama. This has been her style of approach towards her cinematic works ever since her first Malayalam film, 'Bicycle Thieves' released in 2013. She has been part of major releases over the years including blockbusters like, 'Take Off,' 'Malik', 'RDX', and 'Premalu'. Dhanya is currently working on a big-starrer project directed by Mahesh Narayanan. An artist who has an uncanny charm for blending art with drama while designing costumes, Dhanya enjoys a penchant for exploring realism in films and in her work.