I was Intimidated that I was Working with a Superstar - Niharika Khan on Designing Costumes for SRK in Fan

National Award winning fashion designer Niharika Bhasin Khan boasts of an impressive repertoire and has worked with the who's who of Bollywood. But not many know that the lady hasn't had the opportunity of working with Shah Rukh Khan, until recently when Fan happened. Obviously, she was really happy that she got to design costumes for Shah Rukh Khan for his upcoming film and since it was her first time, she was expectedly quite excited for it. In a quick chat, here's what Niharika had to say about the entire journey... Read on...

This is the first time you designed for Shah Rukh Khan, what all research did you go through for both the looks of him?

Well, Gaurav is the Delhi character and he is a middle-class boy. Maneesh and I have worked on Band Baaja Baaraat together, so we knew Delhi very well. Aryan is the superstar from Mumbai who knows about fashion and he is well sophisticated. So both the characters were given different looks and it was very exciting. First, Maneesh and I discussed it and then we, of course, showed presented it to Shah Rukh. He was very professional and very respectful and he even gave his precious time to see the entire presentation which was really nice of him. It was really good experience

What was your first reaction, when you heard you will be working on SRK's look?

Excited! I have never worked with him before. Normally, all main actors like to have their own personal stylist. So, it was really nice not be able to fight back, to have someone who believes in the project and to have one person to man the entire project. Like I said earlier, he was so respectful to the technicians and all of us around and the work we were doing and he allowed us to do everything. I was actually excited and equally nervous also to work with him. I was intimidated by the fact that I am working with a superstar. When Shah Rukh comes on the set, it's like he brings the sunshine on to the set. He is there with you, and he is very professional that you tend to want work on harder.

Did you go through SRK's wardrobe since he plays the superstar?

Of course, I did. We went through his wardrobe. I went through his dance outfits, event outfits. I went through all of it

Was there any brief given in designing SRK's Fan avatar?

I am not a fan, I don't follow anyone closely. So I had to take one of my friend, who is an encyclopedia on Shah Rukh and understand a fan work. What are the things he would try and incorporate in his wardrobe, style. How would we do it? We didn't know at that point of time that we are going to emulate or take Shah Rukh's old footage and then create our own footage of the superstar. There were lots of things that we had to consider when were doing that. Like I said Maneesh is a Delhi boy, so he knows the nuances of the Delhi and what he wanted a Delhi boy to be. We have worked together before on Band Baaja Baaraat which was all about Delhi, so we know lots of stuff in our system. So, we know how we wanted to carry that character forward.

Is it difficult to design costumes for a man as compared to a woman?

No, actually I find it easy. I find men really easy to dress when it comes to costumes. Furthermore, their characters are difficult to dress. Some people just when you are turning them into a character for a film, it becomes a bit difficult at times. We knew a middle-class boy from Delhi, we even knew superstar from Mumbai. We have to look at the life around them, their family, their profession life, the area they live. So we have to create all that characters accordingly.

You have worked with many big names but is there any actor/actress you wants to design costumes for?

I want to design costumes for everyone. I work on characters and script. If I really liked the script, I really would want work on it. And of course, it is not in my power to choose who is working in that film. It's the work of the casting director. And my work is to create that person into the character you created. I would like to work in big budget films, emotional drama, love story, a romcom.

Any director you are keen to work with it?

Oh my god everyone. Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Imtiaz Ali, Vikas Bahl even though I did work with him on Queen and even Vikramaditya Motwane. I have many directors that I would want to work with. I think you always have to try working with different people. Then if it works out for you, great you can take it to the next project. If it doesn't work out, you can just say bye and go the separate ways.