Eva Braun's pictures helped Ruchi Pugalia design Neha's clothes

Jul 26, 2011 IANS

New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Neha Dhupia plays Eva Braun in the forthcoming film "Gandhi To Hitler" and designer Ruchi Pugalia says she has styled the actress' wardrobe after studying the pictures of the German dictator's mistress.

Directed by Rakesh Ranjan Kumar, the film is set during World War II and draws out the stark contrast in the ideologies of Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi. Releasing Friday, the film will see Raghuvir Yadav as Hitler.

"Eva was a woman with a great taste for luxuries. At a time when there were restrictions on most things, Eva wore great clothes, used make-up, read love stories and watched television. For her wardrobe, our primary research was based on Eva's photographs from her earlier times, which we sourced from various places," Pugalia told IANS.

"We gave Neha Dhupia knee length dresses with an occasional coat, skirts with blouses all in a variety of rich fabrics. Coordinating ensembles of hat, gloves and shoes, or gloves and scarf, or hat and bag formed her accessories," she added.

The designer says the biggest challenge was to make sure everything in the frame is dressed accordingly.

"The biggest task for costumes in the film was that everyone had to be dressed up thoughtfully. It being a period film, there was no scope for using current day clothes even for the long shots. This was all achieved within a fairly small budget, small team with meticulous planning," said Pugalia.

What was her biggest task while selecting clothes for film?

"The climatic conditions of India and Germany are very different and the garments for the Germans ideally had to be made in warm fabrics. Since we were starting to shoot in August in India, the material we used had to look woolen and yet not warm. It was quite a task to find those fabrics," Pugalia said.

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Gandhi To Hitler