Mumbai: Costume designer Sheetal Sharma’s phone rings—it’s another emergency. He needs to prepare Diljit Dosanjh’s costume for an upcoming film. Armed with outfits, he and his team rush to the director’s office.
Then comes a last-minute change for a film starring Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra. A tailor in Andheri is put to work. By 3 am, the costume will be collected, ready for the 9 am shoot.
“I have slept three for only three hours a night for the last ten years,” he said, rubbing his eyes. Sharma is on the most-dialled list of Indian filmmakers looking for grandeur and visionary aesthetics. His client list spans languages, regions, and genres.
The past year has been stellar for Sharma. Three of the films he dressed— Pushpa 2 , Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 , and Stree 2 —turned out to be box-office blockbusters. After its streaming release this year, Imtiaz Ali’s Chamkila became a pop culture phenomenon .
Sharma was also invited to join the Class of 2024 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, alongside director SS Rajamouli and actor Shabana Azmi. “Sheetal enhances the visual narrative and the impact of the story inside a theatre. That is what a great costume designer does.
It is like he has god’s gift, he understands the art of screen,” said filmmaker Ashima Chibber, who worked with him in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway . Sheetal Sharma and his team on the sets of Gangubai Kathiawadi. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s brief on shades of white became a famo.
