The Oscar Journey

The interview which appears below, was originally published on India Today in February 2009. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com. In celebrity circles, it is a crime to repeat the same outfit at two high profile events. But clearly, music maestro A.R. Rahman thinks otherwise. He plans to wear the black bandhgala he wore to the BAFTA awards ceremony earlier this month, to the Oscars too. Fashion designer Rohit Bal, who designed Rahman's black outfit, says, "Rahman is a man of simple tastes. Even while planning for the grand Oscar night, the last thing on his mind was what to wear at the ceremony. So, he has chosen to repeat his black bandhgala that was designed for the BAFTA." But during such ceremonies, when what a guest wears at the function gains as much of news space as what award he goes on to win, is it a conscious decision by the music genius to be seen in the same outfit twice? "The black bandhgala is actually like that little black dress. It's a classic - you can't go wrong there. In fact, Rahman seems to have taken a greater liking for the outfit post his lucky spell at BAFTA," says Bal. But what was the brief that Rahman gave to the designer the first time around? "Rahman is very simple yet very stern about his choices. While briefing on his BAFTA outfit, he made it very clear that it has to be a black, formal, Indian outfit. He was a little wary of the black tie evening ensemble and didn't want to wear a tuxedo. He insisted on having an ethnic touch to his outfit. So we decided on a black bandhgala which is practically like an Indian national dress and is formal enough to be worn on an evening like this." Since Rahman wanted to stick to the same style for the Oscars too, Bal says, nothing could have been better than the elegant Indian outfit. Bal claims the only inspiration that he drew from while designing a red carpet outfit for a genius like Rahman was his profound simplicity. "I used a black light- weight wool fabric for the bandhgala and added a black velvet border to it. There is a black on black tonal embroidery on the collars with just a hint of Swarovski. The lines are clean cut with a sharp silhouette," the designer adds. It took Bal 10 days to complete the maestro's outfit. Rahman gave most of his brief and measurements over the mail. Once the outfit was ready it was sent to him for trial. When the Indian stars these days are trying out Armanis and Ralph Laurens on the red carpet, it was surprising that Rahman decided to go for an Indian designer. "It's an honour that he chose me. The fact remains that Rahman has been wearing a lot of my stuff, which he used to buy from a store called Evoluzione in Chennai. In fact, I got a call from the store owner informing me that Rahman would like to wear my design for the event. I am only too glad that he now also plans to wear the outfit to the biggest celebrity night ever," says the proud designer.

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