Get Taapsee Pannu’s fashionable look in Manmarziyaan

In Manmarziyaan, Taapsee Pannu plays a character whose fashion journey is as crucial as her personal journey. As she evolves, her clothing choices reflect the different stages in her life, and finally when it’s time to make a big decision she makes a style decision to reflect her state of mind.

Manmarziyaan’s costume designer in Prashant Sawant.

Pre-wedding style aka Rumi the Carefree

Rumi, played by Taapsee Pannu, is a tomboy and a badass. She plays hockey, goes for a run through Amritsar, rides a Bullet, works with her uncles at their sports goods store, and sneaks around to hang with her passionate boyfriend Vicky (Vicky Kaushal). She doesn’t hesitate to give non-committal Vicky a piece of her mind and a few kicks and punches when he pisses her off with his reluctance to take things forward.

Taapsee Pannu as Rumi style in Manmarziyaan
(Photo by Khamkhaphotoartist)

In this tomboy avatar, Taapsee wears men’s shirts as kurtas paired with loose patiala salwars. Makeup is markedly absent, while her jewellery is only a pair of tiny earrings. In her daily life, Rumi wears plain cardigans and hoodies over her shirts and rolls up the sleeves to look tough.

Rumi has streaks of red in her hair, perhaps to match her boyfriend’s blue highlights, and it’s a curly mess (her aunt calls her Amritsar’s “Laal Pari”). What’s just as outrageous is her pair of bright-tinted sunglasses (I found them bold!).

When Rumi carries a dupatta it’s completely mismatched with the rest of her outfit, showing her nonchalance for anything sartorial, too feminine or too conventional.

Taapsee Pannu fashion in Manmarziyaan
(Photo by Khamkhaphotoartist)

But guess what is Rumi’s most out-of-sync style choice? The sporty sneakers she wears with her salwars!

Want to adopt Taapsee Pannu’s pre-wedding Rumi look in Manmarziyaan? See our style picks below.

Checked shirt by Roadster available on Myntra

Checked womens shirt for Taapsee look

Patiala by Go Colors available on Myntra
Blue Patiala salwar for Taapsee Pannu look

Sneakers by Clarks available on Jabong

Post-wedding style aka Rumi as a Married Woman

Every Punjabi bride gets a trousseau from her family with clothes and jewellery that the bride will need in her new home, and Rumi gets a set of 21 outfits. Since Rumi doesn’t seem to be fashionable types, I get the feeling that her aunt chose her trousseau.

Once Rumi gets married, she wears her new outfits as she must, albeit a bit reluctantly, complete with her bridal chura and some jewellery. The little studs give way to small jhumkas but there is very little attempt otherwise to keep up the appearances of a blushing bride or bahu.

Taapsee Pannu Rumi in Manmarziyaan song
(Photo from Manmarziyaan official Facebook page)

As soon as they reach their hotel in Kashmir for their honeymoon, Rumi pulls out sneakers from her suitcase, ties them up and off she goes running, music in her ears to nurse her heartbreak.

The post-marriage wardrobe upgrade expands to smarter jackets, bright-coloured wedding embroidered kurtas and salwar kameez sets with (ahem…) matching dupattas.

Meanwhile, Rumi’s hair is still a mess but then there’s a hint of lipstick, nothing too obvious, just a nude shade to make her look a bit more well, married and grown-up.

As Rumi’s marriage goes through a series of ups and downs, her clothing choices fluctuate. At her family’s home, she is pretty much her old self. But as rapid changes happen in her life, she seems to grow. She begins seeing things more clearly and she makes some changes to her wardrobe to keep up with her newfound maturity.

Most notable is the final scene of Manmarziyaan, when Rumi heads out to woo her man (no spoilers here!). Rather than her usual careless look, she makes an obvious effort with her appearance, but without compromising on her crazy personality (she still asks impertinent questions and speaks random stuff to throw off people).

In this scene, Taapsee Pannu wears a knee-length straight-fit kurta with little embroidery motifs all over and carries a somewhat-matching purse. Then she applies lipstick and wears earrings, even though she doesn’t need to. Clearly, it’s a woman in love putting herself out for her man.

Get Taapsee Pannu’s post-wedding look in Manmarziyaan. Here are some suggestions.

Kurta suit set from Biba
Biba pink suit Taapsee Paanu in Manmarziyaan

Zaveri pearls jhumkas available on Myntra

Zaveri-Pearls-Jhumkas for Taapsee Pannus look Manmarziyaan
Lipstick by Kiki Milano available on Nykaa
Kiko Milano lipstick Taapsee Pannu in Manmarziyaan

What do you think of Taapsee Pannu’s look in Manmarziyaan?

How to dress like Taapsee Pannu in Mulk

In her latest film Mulk Taapsee Pannu plays Aarti Mohammed, a lawyer in the holy city of Varanasi. Despite the low glam quotient of the film, I liked Taapsee’s understated style in Mulk.  Her look provides excellent style inspiration to working women who want to look smart, crisp, elegant and powerful.

So how does Taapsee Pannu get the right look in Mulk?

Taapsee Pannu in Mulk white shirt black pants

Taapsee’s Mulk style statement

Taapsee Pannu’s work and off-duty looks in the movie are practical and pragmatic, simple and fuss-free. She looks like a woman who takes minimum effort in getting dressed which is why her look will work for many Indian women who constantly juggle between work, home and countless other responsibilities.

Though Aarti Mohammed is an Indian woman, she lives in London with her husband Aftab. Hence Taapsee’s style is in line with international standards. She opts for a no-frills, minimalistic style that you would see on most women abroad, except that in Mulk her look is mostly based on Indian wear.

What’s more, her minimal look extends to her beauty choices. Taapsee’s hair has been cut short and she leaves it open when she’s at home. Reflecting her role as a woman from a modest family, she wears almost no makeup.

Taapsee Pannu’s work look

Aarti is a serious lawyer and it shows when she dresses for court. In court, Taapsee is nattily dressed in white and black as mandated by court rules. She wears a crisp white shirt with slim-fit black trousers that taper at the ankle. Her accessories are a thin black belt and black loafers.

Even if you’re not a lawyer, this simple look of a tucked-in shirt with a belt and loafers are enough to make a great impression at work.

Try these suggestions to get Taapsee Pannu’s courtroom look in Mulk:

White shirt from Vero Moda, available on Jabong

White shirt like Taapsee Pannu

Black trousers from Marks & Spencer, available on JabongBlack trousers M&S

Black loafers from Allen Solly, available on Amazon.in

black loafers Amazon

Taapsee Pannu’s casual look

Taapsee’s trademark style at home is simple, straight-cut cotton and linen kurtas. The kurtas’ sleeves are elbow-length and they come with formal collars. This means mandarin collars, not the round and V-necklines that we see everywhere. The kurtas are solid and void of any prints, embroidery and embellishment.

Take a look at this tweet Taapsee Pannu posted from the sets of Mulk:

 

However, her kurtas are NOT BORING, because they have little detailing like a long button placket and a bit of piping around the collar. Taapsee has skipped the ubiquitous churidar, instead opting for straight-fit pants. Tiny diamond earrings and flat kolhapuri-style slippers complete her Indian casual look.

Here are my recommendations to adopt a look similar to Taapsee’s in Mulk.

Kurta from W

kurta from W

Diamond earrings from Caratlane

diamond earrings from caratlane

What did you think of Taapsee Pannu’s look in Mulk? Would you adopt such a look at work or at home?

The year of badass women in films

I’m tired of watching timid women in films, in whichever language they may be. I’m tired of them playing second fiddle to male protagonists, and I’m especially irritated with the stereotyped, hollow and misguided projections of “modern” women in Indian films (Alia Bhatt in Dear Zindagi, Sonakshi Sinha in Noor).

But 2017 has given me some hope. I’ve seen women kick bigtime ass in films, I’ve seen women who won’t take no for an answer, and I’ve seen women who won’t let others decide their destiny.

Like this one:

Gal Gadot playing Diana in Wonder Woman

And these:

Ramya Krishna playing Sivagami in Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali: The Conclusion

Anushka Shetty playing Devasena in Baahubali: The Conclusion

Taapsee Pannu playing Shabana in Naam Shabana

*Cue applause.*

And here is why I love them:

They fight. And how.

They fight, and not just physically. Not just by kicking or punching a villain, or by cutting off a perverted man’s hand. They fight society’s expectations, and they fight to save other’s lives. And, even better, they fight for themselves.

Naam Shabana fighting

I loved watching Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman taking down the bad guys, and Taapsee Pannu as Shabana extracting revenge. The immense satisfaction I got from seeing their toughness just blew me.

They are self-centred, but selfless and loving too.

Hurray for multidimensional women. They exist around the world, but very rarely on screen.

Whether it’s Diana (aka Wonder Woman) or Devasena from Baahubali: The Conclusion, they are clear about what they want- learn to fight, be a better archer, hunt down a kiiller. And they will do whatever they can to reach those goals.

Wonder Woman

But that doesn’t make them bitches.

Because they still care about people. They fight to protect their kingdom, to protect their country and to save humanity.

They have men in their lives.   

How many times have we girls heard the line, “Men don’t like women who are too ambitious or career-focused, so don’t be so driven”?

Sorry folks, but just because we like to do “unconventional” things doesn’t mean we can’t fall in love or have a man interested in us.

Thankfully, the men in these films are more in touch with their masculinity and like to see women fight. They cheer them on during a fighting match, and share their own skills with them (remember the three-arrow hold in Bahubali: The Conclusion?). And thank god for that.

Baahubali 2 archery

Because yes, there are such men in real life too and the world needs to see them. Not all men want their wives or girlfriends to be damsels in distress or be totally dependent on them.

But…

All these films have their flaws in their treatment of women characters, especially in their relationship with male protagonists (and that’s a blog post for another time).

Nevertheless it’s refreshing to see such wonderful roles for women in popular cinema in Bollywood and Hollywood. It’s even more awesome that audiences are watching and accepting these films.

Maybe the time will soon come when film makers won’t have to rely on big-ticket male actors to attract audiences, and have women do some REAL stuff on screen. Stuff that is mostly confined to men.

It’s too early to celebrate path-breaking female characters on the big screen. But there is some hope…