“It’s a dynamic role and I thought it would be interesting to see if I could actually manage a makeover,” says Mirza, who is trying to revive a lagging Bollywood career. And sartorial help came from designers Nikhil and Shantanu Mehra. “They chipped in with some great outfits,” she says. The movie sees Mirza at the helm of a gang of seven macho men — Danny Denzongpa, Fardeen Khan, Manoj Bajpai, Irrfan Khan, Aftab Shivdassani, Dino Morea and Gulshan Grover. It’s a negative role, something that Mirza has never done before. The look is not Thurman though but Sharon Stone.
Says Nikhil: “The last we did an outfit for Dia was a long time ago for a beauty pageant. This time the requirement was completely different. We finally decided on giving her a very structured, uncluttered look. It’s subtle but it conveys power, coquetry and glamour.” So for some stylish villainy, Mirza got into pantsuits and figure-hugging dresses. “The character knows she is good-looking and she uses it to her advantage. But it’s not about stripping or wearing less. It’s about wearing more and still managing to have sex appeal,” says Mirza.
If the clothes came from the Mehras, the hint of muscles is thanks to a six-month regimen of resistance training. “Structure and silhouette might come from seams, but if you don’t have the right body for it, nothing looks good. The clothes are very non-filmi, so they need the right muscles,” says the actor who has just completed the first schedule of the shoot at the Ramoji Studio in Hyderabad, and is gearing up for another stint in Cape Town, South Africa. But a bloody sword fight, a stylish massacre still seems far away.
