Why is fashion in India so heavily influenced by Bollywood films?

Even in the age of social media, the Hindi film industry largely dictates people’s sartorial choices

When I first saw Urmila Matondkar in a cropped blue shirt with brown pants in the song Yaaro Sun Lo Zara from Rangeela (1995), I thought no one looked cooler than her on screen. From Aamir Khan’s yellow co-ord set to Matondkar’s easy-breezy mini dresses, every look from the movie is timeless. It wasn’t just me who was enamored by what the stars wore on screen, be it front-knotted polka-dot tops (Bobby, 1973) or flowy chiffon sarees (Chandni, 1989 and Main Hoon Na, 2004). Indians replicated most of what they saw their favourite movie stars in because for most Indians, fashion was defined by what they saw actors and actresses wear.

Why is it that the masses want to dress and look like a fictional character they saw on the big screen? Designer and costume stylist Manish Malhotra–responsible for creating some of the most iconic fashion moments in Bollywood in the last three decades–believes that cinema is a reflection of our reality. “The influence of cinematic dressing is very strong with scripts that have a story to tell. The impact enhances when the clothes are aligned with the characters so they can be effectively narrated through their style and performances,” he says. Malhotra, who made his debut as a costume designer in 1990, has over a hundred films to his credit listed on IMDb. In 1995, he won the first Filmfare Award for Best Costume Designing for Rangeela, a film which changed the way the audience perceived fashion in movies.

The perfect relationship

According to costume designer and celebrity stylist Aastha Sharma, fashion and Bollywood have had the perfect relationship since the 1960s. “Back in the day, the only source of visual inspiration for people when it came to fashion was films and songs. There was nothing else that a common person could browse, flip or scroll through. It is only now because of the internet and social media platforms that people are aware of other trends from across the world,” says Sharma, who has designed costumes for Four More Shots Please! (2019-forthcoming), an Indian web series equivalent to Sex and the City (1998-2004), particularly when it comes to sartorial choices.

Movies became a medium of inspiration for many, be it Madhubala’s anarkalis in Mughal-E-Azam (1960), or Zeenat Amaan’s bohemian look in the song Dum Maro Dum from Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), or Madhuri Dixit’s purple saree from Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), all ofwhich trickled down from the silver screen to the streets. “Since the ’60s, movie stars have been style icons,” says Sharma. “Whatever they wore became trendy and was replicated even by the smallest of stores in the country. Many would go to their local tailors to recreate the looks they saw their favourite actors wearing in films as they had nowhere else to buy it from.”

It’s not just the characters from the movies that were idealised but also actors themselves who were put on a pedestal by loyal fans. Malhotra, too, believes that Indian audiences get heavily inspired by the actors whom they idolise. “I’ve always blended costumes into the narrative rather than create fashion trends for the clothes to be in tandem. For example, Kareena Kapoor’s T-shirt-salwar combo in Jab We Met (2007) made such a strong impact. It was a simple outfit but the style is what created a rave among youngsters, and suddenly they were all wearing it.” Even if we go back in time, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Amitabh Bachchan’s on-screen costumes of long-tipped collared shirts and bell-bottomed pants in the ’70s were replicated and worn by almost every man in the country.

On-screen versus on-ramp

It’s hard to ignore the fact that Bollywood movies have a stronger hold over fashion trends in India than runway collections do. This is also because of the fact that fashion has been considered as somewhat elitist and not easily accessible to all, as costume designer Arjun Bhasin points out. “I don’t think a lot of people follow fashion that’s on the ramp. Cinema, on the other hand, is for everyone. The characters people see on screen are their icons and that’s where people get their inspirations from,” he says. Bhasin has worked as a stylist with fashion magazines, and as a costume designer for movies like Gully Boy (2019), The Namesake (2006), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Life of Pi (2012) and, most recently, Netflix’s mini-series, A Suitable Boy (2020).

As compared to the west, fashion designers and costume designers in India are on vastly different routes. While fashion designers get more limelight and coverage in magazines and on the red carpet in the west, costume designers’ names get lost in the end credits. Bollywood is different in that sense because most Indian designers, unlike those in the west, started out as costume designers. Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar and Neeta Lulla are few of the many designers who found a balance between on-screen and on-ramp.

Furthermore, the concept of a fashion show and a fashion week, borrowed from the west, is only around 20 years old as compared to the Bollywood film industry which is ingrained in our culture. “Fashion is a relatively newer industry, so films were always the inspiration. Films are so larger than life that once you are on screen, it amplifies everything. That is part of the reason why films are more important than a fashion week or fashion collections,” observes Sujata Assomull, journalist and author of 100 Iconic Bollywood Costumes (2020).

Bollywood movies, guest-starring an international brand

Remember Preity Zinta’s denim miniskirts with the Von Dutch inscription printed over her derrière in Salaam Namaste (2005)? Or Sonam Kapoor decked up in Christian Dior and Chanel in Aisha (2010)? Or Hermes’ ‘Bagwati’ in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)? It’s only in the recent past that international fashion brands realised the enormous influence Bollywood films have on Indian audiences. In the early 2000s, when luxury brands saw a thriving market in India, they got their foot in the door through Bollywood films.

“Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) brought the sporty chic look to India, with a lot of international brands like DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger. This changed the way the college-going crowd dressed then. This happened six years before the launch of Tommy Hilfiger in India and it actually made it so much easier for them when they officially launched,” Assomull points out. Movies like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006), Aisha and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara changed the way people saw fashion on screen, which became more aspirational as luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermès began getting featured in Hindi films. “If you look at Aisha, you don’t really remember it for great performances, but you remember it for its fashion. ‘Bagwati’ is also going to be how India will remember Hermès,” says Assomull.

Although the relationship between Hindi films and fashion is deeply rooted, people today are more interested in what their favourite celebrity is wearing on a day-to-day basis than what they see on screen. Thanks to social media platforms, it is easier to dress up exactly like your celebrity style-icon than to replicate a look you saw in a film. But for those of us who get nostalgic about the magic of films and costumes, there will always be iconic looks to flip back through time, be it the skin-tight churidars from the ’60s or the sporty headbands from the late ’90s.

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