One Month Later (December) 2000: I’m back in bed again and very short-tempered. Writing this diary helps distract me from my anger.
Yesterday was my first time out of the house. The doctors had cleared me. I was with Ash on the sets of movie ‘Radheshyam Sitaram’ because I was designing her clothes for the film.
A few minutes after I got home, a pain shot through my right arm. I had had a relapse. For 10 days, I’ve been here in my bedroom, while the entire world whirls around me. At times like these, I think it’s better to take care of myself, so things like this don’t happen. On the other hand, I think, what am I doing, I’m pampering myself.
Cut to January-February 2001: We are ready to shoot the opening scene. Paro wears an orange and red checked sari and Kiron Kher is dressed in a white and red Dhakai sari. When I showed Kiron her clothes for the movie, she loved them. For once, she had some grand outfits, instead of her usual modest attire. Devdas has arrived from London and Paro is seeing him after 10 years. She runs across the room and 21 doors fly open as she hurries towards her room on wings of joy.
Cut To June 2001 The first half of the film is done.
On June 20, I have to leave for the Bollywood Fashion Awards. I’m terribly busy getting Paro’s next outfit ready. Just my luck, I find out it’s the bridal scene and the song Hamesha tumko chaha is going to be picturised. The bridal outfit is a maroon and hot pink sari with meena work.


It’s great working with an artiste like Ash. She’s a stickler for perfection. In fact she calls herself, ‘A Parsi woman who wants everything perfect’. We have a good rapport. I know what she wants, so it’s easy designing for her.
Ash likes simple, elegant clothes and is mostly into saris. In Westerns, she is very non-committal, preferring a pullover, jeans and boots. She’s very simple at heart. She’s not flamboyant, but the simplest clothes look fab on her and she knows it. She’s got the poise and structure and knows how to carry herself in a particular outfit.


Then came the rains. With the heavy downpour, the sets came tumbling down. They were ruined; the film was running into financial problems. The cast and crew move to Filmistan to shoot Madhuri’s scenes.
Cut To November 2001 Things are heating up. We are running into a number of problems, one of which is financial, what with Bharat Shah, the producer, being arrested. Plans go astray and shooting is now haphazard. So, I’m running between my studio and the sets three to four times a day. In the midst of all this, we have extensive discussions about the ‘Dolare dola’ song, where Paro invites Chandramukhi to her place. By this time, Abu-Sandeep have walked out because of financial differences. Reza Sharifi comes in to design the clothes for this dance sequence.
An unexpected call from Choreographer Saroj Khan announces that Madhuri and the dancers are to be dressed in a sort of a ghagra . But according to my look, ‘ghagras’ are not part of Paro’s wardrobe. But we sort out the differences and I work out the drape. It has to look like a sari, but have the girth of a lehenga .

It took me three days to work out three different drapes. Sanjay prefered the red and gold outfit, which Madhuri liked as well.
Ash was shooting in Ooty, so I put mock borders on the sari, marked out where the embroidery was going to be and couriered it to her, along with xeroxes of the jewellery. Reza duplicated the twall for Madhuri.

November 1, 2001: I remember this date because it was Ash’s birthday. She had just come back from Ooty and after we had finished her fittings, we had a little birthday party for her. It was a sweet little celebration.
November 2, 2002