Ritu Kumar designs for Deepa Mehta

Though Indian designers are well-known for adding glamor to

Bollywood, these days they are also contributing their efforts to films abroad. Ritu Kumar will design the costumes for Deepa Mehta’s film 'Winds of Change' based on Salman Rushdie’s tour de force Midnight’s Children. For the period film set during the heady and tumultuous days of Independence, Ritu Kumar delved into archives and research material to get the proper look and feel. As if that weren’t enough, Salman Rushdie also collaborated with her and gave her some costume inputs. If Kumar gets hosannas for her work, she will be following in the footsteps of Bhanu Athaiya who won an Oscar for her costume work in Richard Attenborough’s 'Gandhi'.

The empress of Indian haute couture, Ritu Kumar is one of India’s leading and most gifted fashion designers. She has nurtured a unique and incomparable style of her own which includes ancient Indian handicrafts such as zardozi, bandhani and chikan work. She combines them with a contemporary flair to create stunning outfits. Her Indo-western fusion wear has all the paraphernalia of block prints, embroidery and craft inputs on a western style. The designer had previously styled for the short film 'Little Terrorist' in 2002. This is her first big break in the West