Our mind sometimes acts as a fence-sitting admirer when newness in our thoughts starts to define paradoxes. While these paradoxes take form, it starts to brush up on the ideas of today’s generation, resulting in ranting.
A fashion film as an original take on the human mind attempting to convey what is new in the views of youth, Paradoxes and Rants is a cinematic exploration of youth, exaggerated and expanded upon voice notes and little mutterings you hear while walking on the street, sometimes not making sense against the visuals portrayed. Plagued by the words that repeat in your head, you try to get rid of them, but you view yourself as dictating its storytelling instead. While writing the storyline of this film, I realized I had to keep the stylist in me at bay and only revisit once the paradoxes and rants had their characters.
While reflecting on the complexities of the human mind, I found myself focusing on pieces of identity/fashion combining words and sound for a better representation of life. Colour accents, saturated make-up and out-of-the-box silhouettes aimed to add the “work in progress” look reflected in the film’s raw and ready assemblage of free-spirited people and spaces.
Two Istituto Marangoni Mumbai Fashion Styling alumni, Pooja Jeswani and Raghav Chopra, assisted me in achieving this look. An extended focus on daytime dining went out to play with palette and form, adding to the character development of the youth. Collaborating with the director of photography William Thekkan and photographer Bhanu Rathore (also a photography tutor at Istituto Marangoni, Mumbai), we worked out each detail of the film’s narrative, from deciding which garment would go where to whether there would be a fall involved or even the actions revealing a new fit, and using their photo and video expertise to define a narrative for each character. We had a film through the rhythm of both stylistic vision and commercial framework. From this moment, the scenes become frames from which the audience observes their unfolding relationships with daily moments.
Akanksha Rohra
Fashion Styling Unit Leader and Lecturer, Mumbai
Credits:
Story & Creative Direction: Akanksha Rohra; Models: Tarun (Feat Artists) & Anvi (Inega); Directors of Photography: William Thekkan, Bhanu Singh Rathore; Editor: William Thekkan; Styling Assistants: Istituto Marangoni Mumbai Alumni Pooja Jeswani And Raghav Chopra; Hair/Makeup: Varsha Tilokani & Aliyah Khan; Fashion: Aroka, Suketdhir, Chamar, Nappa Dori, Three, Jeetinder Sandhu, Aniket Satam & Necesera; Jewellery: Bhavya Ramesh