Neeta Lulla recalls Sanjay Leela Bhasali DEMANDED last minute change in Aishwarya Rai’s iconic saree look; ‘I had only…’

Recently, in an interview with News18, fashion designer Neeta Lulla looked back at working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on one of his most iconic films, Devdas, and the sudden challenge of sourcing a long saree for Aishwarya Rai for the climax of the film. Neeta shared that she had to create that look overnight and had to combine two or three sarees to create a 13-meter long saree. She said, “I had only overnight to create that look. The whole film featured sarees that were 12–14 meters long. I had cut up two or three sarees to create the entire ensemble. For the final scene, Sanjay felt he needed a cotton (Durga) Puja saree. We had the saree, and everything was ready. The night before the shoot at Filmistan, we were in Aishwarya’s van, looking at the outfit around 7 pm after pack-up.”

She added, “At that moment, Sanjay said his idea was to have the saree’s pallu catch fire and felt it wouldn’t be long enough. Hearing this, I said, ‘Can I leave?’ He was confused. I left the set and started making calls, trying to figure out a solution. I called one of my fabric vendors and got him to open his shop at 11 pm. In the meantime, I had asked my team of embroiderers to start working on borders and everything. By 8:30 am the next day, we had two 13-meter sarees ready on set.”