By Subhash K Jha
By now it’s common knowledge that Priyanka Chopra plays 12 roles in Ashutosh Gowariker’s “What’s Your Raashee’. And that each one has been styled differently.
But the attention that Ashutosh Gowariker has paid to the hair styling for each of the 12 Priyankas’ takes our breath away.
Explains the diligent director, “You can tell a girl’s personality not only by her clothes and hair but also by the way the hair bounces.”
A different bounce had to be created by non-film stylist Asha Harirahan for every Priyanka.
Priyanka has assumed a different skin tone, complexion and playback voices, each suited to the individual character in terms of personality and body/spoken language
Confirming this Ashutosh Gowariker says, “I knew Priyanka could pull off all 12 parts. I’ve seen how nuanced her performances are right from the time she made her debut in The Hero. When we decided to have the same actress playing all 12 parts we decided to give every character a totally different personally in terms of dress, skin tone and even hair style.”
Non-film hair stylist Asha Hariharan was brought in to do Priyanka Chopra’s hair for the 12 characters.
Explains Ashutosh, “While Neeta Lulla has done all of Priyanka’s clothes for the 12 characters Asha Hariharan was brought in because I didn’t only want only a different hair cut or style for all the 12 Priyankas I also wanted a different fall and bounce for every girl’s hair. For that I needed an expert beyond the expertise offered by the Bollywood names.”
Rajesh Patil was roped in to do Priyanka’s 12 skin tones. “They’re very subtle differences. But nonetheless the skin shades determine a major part of every girl’s personality.”
Priyanka being dusky in complexion had a particularly tough time playing the more gora avatars.
As for her voices Ashutosh sifted through innumerable voices with composer Sohail Sen before selecting the 11 voices (the 12th girl doesn’t sing). “It wasn’t like an audition. But yes, my music director Sohail Sen and I went through the voices to select the ones that suited Priyanka’s every avatar.”
Adds Ashutosh, “If I made the film 20 years ago, Lataji would sung for all the 12 Priyankas and she would’ve made sure each avatar had a distinct personality.”
-Sampurn Media