"A dream come true… Not only for this movie… For my whole journey …for all the effort that I have put into my career… Every little step that it has taken to reach here.” This is how costume designer Veera Kapur Ee stated she felt on winning the 69th National Film Awards for Best Costume Design for her work on Sardar Udham, directed by Shoojit Sircar. The movie depicts the life and times of the eponymous revolutionary, Udham Singh who assassinated General Micheal O’Dwyer in 1940 for his role in the Jallianwala Bagh incident. She stated she had to design approximately 1,000 outfits for the movie to depict the time frame. The designer received the Award from President Droupadi Murmu on October 17, 2023 at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan.
Top and inset: Veera Kapur Ee, with (from l) Rodney, Nathan and Brendan;
above, l and center: stills from the movie depicting Sardar Udham (r)
"About 18 years ago I got a chance to assist (famous costume designer) Dolly Ahluwalia in a period film called Partition,” the designer stated in an email and a phone interview with Parsiana on November 7. "That time I was an employee with filmmaker Sircar as an assistant director and I would do costumes too for advertisements… When I told him I got this opportunity he told me go learn and said one day I will do the costumes for Sardar Udham. It is his faith in me that I got such an amazing film.”
Having worked on various genres, the designer stated that her favorite is the period movie. "There are many challenges in designing for a period film…Trying to make it look authentic, finding the right fabrics and textures… Being true to the characters.”
With two decades in the film industry, she believes that "Today creative people working in films are very involved and take a keen interest in detailing for every department… With over the top (OTT) platforms in place now there is definitely more scope for costume designers as the sheer volume of projects has increased manifold.”
She is a "big admirer” of designers like (Oscar winning) Bhanu Athiya, Ahluwalia and Anaita Shroff Adajania but notes she meets few Parsis in this profession.
Kapur terms her family "culturally mixed” with her mother Farida Dotiwala, father Lt Gen Ashok Kapur (retd) and husband senior creative professional Rodney Shwinli Ee, of Chinese-British descent. The couple have two sons, Brendan and Nathan.
The aubergine double border sari she wore to the Awards function was an Ashdeen Lilaowala creation, she wrote on Instagram. "My mother wanted me to wear a lovely gara work sari. The only brand I could think of was Ashdeen. I am a big fan of their beautiful collection...
"I have always admired the Parsis of India,” she noted. The way they mixed liked sugar in milk… I have taken a lot from the Parsi side of the family.”