Roll out the red carpet

Behind the scenes of ‘Ideators’ - episode 10:

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Imagine Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif or Deepika Padukone on the red carpet. Transforming themselves from their exotic urban or traditional rural on-screen images these ladies sure know how to take a more chic avatar onto the red carpet. Their success mantra is the ‘little bit of help’ they get from the experts, the fashion gurus.

Nimanthie actively participates in helping with the make over

Luke looks quite lost!

Lara and Alex train Nuwani on how to pose for the red carpet

Nuwani and Nuranjani

Lion Heart’s model being transformed

Be it Aishwarya Rai’s breathtaking blue and white floor sweeping gown at Cannes last year or Kareena Kapoor’s shimmering gold saree at Filmfare Awards, these styles have not only dazzled the audience for the moment but have become fashion trends which have been spoken over the years.

British Council’s ‘Ideators’ competitors certainly got a taste of this last week when they took on the task for transforming twins Nuwani and Nuranjani into red carpet divas.

The challenge was set by International Academy of Beauticians’ Hasini Gunasekara. The contestants were asked to select the garments of their choice from a leading fashion retail store in Colombo and hunt for accessories to go with the look. Interestingly both teams decided on gowns. Reflex went for a white floor length strapless gown while Lion Heart settled for a blue shaded gown embellished with stones.

Being the fashion expert Lara naturally led the Reflex team while Lion Heart appointed Udana as their team leader.

“Lion Heart has different strategies when it comes to appointing leaders. In some tasks we appoint the strongest competitor relevant to the task as the leader but in some we don’t. This was such a task where Luke and I had no idea about ‘Dressing up Girls!!!’” Udana said with a cheeky grin. Nevertheless he was up for the challenge, especially because he is a Bollywood fan.

A Shahruk Khan fan and armed with a bit of Hindi knowledge Udana does not miss the opportunity to see his idol in action or dishing out a performance at an awards festival. The student from Uva Wellassa University ritually watches the Filmfare Awards and Apsara Awards almost every year. No doubt he had eyed those svelte figures of the actresses many more times than he would like to own up!

Though a majority of Sri Lankans know Bollywood like the back of their hands, Bollywood stars were new to Lara. Luckily she says that there is no vast difference between the Bollywood and Hollywood red carpet fashions.

“A lot of the Bollywood stars all seem to follow Hollywood these days. Their dresses have less beading and the men wear suits from the same designers that dress Hollywood actors. From research, it actually seemed like the Bollywood actors did not want to stick out of the crowd. Instead, they wanted to look like Hollywood actors in their dressing,” the student from the London College of Fashion said.

While we are on the topic of celebrities Daily News ‘Punch’ inquired from Nimanthie if she had ever been recognized as one of the face that adorns ‘Ideators.’

“Yes, I do see a few heads turning when I enter some public place. I always wonder why! But I was actually surprised with the few instances where people recognized and came up to me and asked about the programme,” she said breaking into a smile. Another important aspect of the challenge was that every minute detail has to go along with the look and design. Not a frill or hair should be out of place. Dress them up in designer creations and these artistes carry it off flawlessly. Plus their selections of accessories are ‘to die for’. True fashionistas, they can transform from ‘Vintage’ to ‘Contemporary’ in no time. These elements of refinery and luxury certainly brought a refreshing change to ‘Ideators’ episode 10.

Commenting on one of the unique features of Bollywood styles that she had Alex stumbled upon, Lara elaborates, “Many of the Bollywood actresses wear contact lenses. I guess it is their thing. So we went out in search of contact lenses in any colour we could find, but we had too small a budget to cover the cost. We noticed that though the Bollywood actresses may dress the same as everyone else on the red carpet, they stood out with their coloured eyes. For that reason, we felt that it was important to create the same look.”

There you have it. Manish Malhotra, Neeta Lulla, Ritu Beri, Vikram Phadnis or Sabyasachi Mukherjee in the making! Nuwani and Nuranjani certainly lit up our television screens with their grace and charm. However the sad case is that the judges need to pick a contestant to eliminate. Many fans would have looked on in disbelief as Nimanthie’s bid adieu.

Asked if she would have picked a different gown had she been given a second chance the Moratuwa University student revealed, “I would still choose the same gown, because when we dressed Nuranji we have to pick something that suits her body shape and complexion. From the choice of dresses we had, I think it was what suited her the most. Yet if I were by myself with a wider variety of dresses and a bigger budget I would have probably made a different choice.”

She added that the tables might have turned if they had been given the choice of dressing the models for the Hollywood red carpet.

“Looking at what the judges have been expecting, if we were to do for Hollywood red carpet, the output would have been completely different. If you actually look at the red carpet of Filmfare or any other Bollywood award ceremony what we see is a lot of beautiful sarees and a few conventional dresses. But if you take the Hollywood red carpet, for every personality there is a different style and there you have fewer limitations in styling. Therefore, yes, Hollywood would have suited better, with the choice of dresses that we had and mainly would have suited the judges’ expectations better,” she said before hasting to add, “ Be it Hollywood or Bollywood, one more thing we cannot forget is that we were stylists for an ordinary Sri Lankan girl. She was no super model. Therefore no matter how stylish and trendy we think certain dresses may be, if it did not suit her, or if she was not willing to wear it, we cannot go ahead with it.”

Udana agrees that they made a faux pas from the guest judge’s point of view when they decided that the model is their client.

He adds, “Nevertheless I still strongly believe that the client is the model and it is she who walks on the red carpet. In a marketing point of view we must satisfy the customer which is the client. Therefore for me the client is the model.”

Nimanthie’s departure was a sorrowful sight not only for ‘Ideator’ fans but Luke and Udana as well.

Unfurling his thoughts on the incident Udana says, “Indeed there is no doubt about Nimmie’s contribution for this task. She handled almost everything while Luke and I stepped back a little. She was a very strong competitor through out the competition. I don’t think that the elimination was fair considering the manner in which she contributed to the task.”

After a slight pause he adds that being in a reality show you need to grin and bear it up such circumstances. Mention Adam to him and his mood lightens up instantly!

“Please make a note that I enjoyed my day because Adam was not around!” was his parting remark.

Next week it is the girls vs boys challenge. Will Reflex get the better of Lion Heart or will Udana and Luke make a comeback? Who will make it to the final three? Catch another exciting episode of ‘Ideators’ as it unfurls on Independence Television Network (ITN) on Saturday at 9 pm.