Contrary to expectations, AR Rahman would have probably gone with his Lanvin tuxedo that he wore to the red carpet had it not been for designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. “When Mr Rahman’s stylist came to me for Saira, his wife’s outfit, I asked her what he would be wearing. I was a little disappointed when she told me he was thinking of going with the black tuxedo and I told her that being the genius that he was, he should make rules for himself and wear what he was comfortable in—something decidedly Indian,” recalls Mukherjee, who is busy with the fittings of Mani Ratnam’s new movie Ravana. So Mukherjee sat down to design a simple black bandhgala for him in Khadi with Kashmiri and kantha embroidery, and that’s what Rahman was wearing when he went on stage to perform and then to receive the first of his two Academy Awards. Mrs Rahman too was dressed in a black salwar kameez with red and gold embroidery on it, another outfit from Mukherjee’s stable. “I was really very impressed with her. From the very beginning she held her own when people told her to wear a gown, and the fact that she wore something that was so decidedly her, complete with the head scarf, just goes to show the kind of person the two are. Simple and unpretentious,” adds Mukherjee.
