Saba Qamar is in the news for all the right reasons. Her Bollywood debut Hindi Medium has received rave reviews and her upcoming drama serial Baghi is the talk of the town. The aptly named drama serial will follow the tumultuous life and death of Qandeel Baloch.
We caught up with the costume designer of the drama serial, Zubia Motiwalla to find out what it was like working with the star and recreating some iconic looks of the late Baloch.
Fashion designer Zubia Motiwalla is used to creating understated Eastern wear for the urban Pakistani woman. Sure, she experiments with hemlines and statement sleeves but her calling card like so many of our favorite designers is feminine class.
So, when she was contacted to create a wardrobe for upcoming biopic Baghi on the life of controversial pop-culture icon Qandeel Baloch – the challenge was real.
Motiwalla began by going through her selfies and videos when she realized that contrary to popular belief Baloch rarely dressed very provocatively. “She usually wore simple Western clothes but didn’t really have a style statement of her own,” the designer explains. “She was tacky but not vulgar.”
“She was just trying different things in terms of fashion.”
In the first part of the drama we see Saba Qamar dressed as a village girl. The costumes feature traditional cuts, bright colors and shiny fabrics that Motiwalla says are common for young girls in the rural area. As Qamar’s character evolves so do the costumes and sh slowly learns to become more stylish.
“She had run away from an environment that was suffocating her. Her wardrobe was a part of her self-expression.”
According to Motiwalla when she came to the city she was trying very hard to become part of a society that she did not entirely understand or belong to.”
The drama serial hopes to bring to light the circumstances of Baloch’s brutal murder. Saba Qamar has spoken out against honor killing. She told media “I feel bad [for Qandeel], I really do. Did you know she used to share her earnings with her family? She helped her brother get education – she paid for it – the same brother who murdered her.”
Motiwalla also hopes that director Farooq Rind’s drama serial can help highlight the inherent humanity in the village girl and the viral sensation. “They both deserve respect regardless of what they wear,” she says.
