Representing India

The AR Rahman concert has 300 costumes for 24 songs representing new age India.

Designer Ritu Beri has styled the wardrobe for musician AR Rahman and the entire troupe for the AR Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home. Beri finds this job challenging and says it is like “doing five couture shows, all in one”.

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There are over 300 clothes designed for Rahman and the other singers and dancers. “While designing for this tour it was important to keep intact the heritage and traditions of India and add a new modernity to the presentation,” says Beri.

The show starts June 11 in New York at the Nassau Coliseum and will travel to 20 major cities worldwide including Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas and London. “There are 24 different costumes to represent different parts of India. While one outfit is inspired by Bharatnatyam, there is another with elements from yoga, Kathak and so on.”

Rahman is presenting 24 songs and for each song there is a different look. Beri adds, “We had to do 24 variations for him. So, I recreated the Michael Jackson look for him and a few Indo-Western costumes as well. For the song Khwaja Mere Khwaja I have given him a Sufi look.”

(With inputs from IANS)