Costume designer’s concept-based designs for actors go viral

When the lockdown started Sathya decided to make use of the free time. Rather than doing photoshoots with usual designs and costumes, he decided to do conceptbased designs for senior character actors in the Tamil film industry. “The lockdown period saw many photographers and designers experimenting with photoshoots. Instead of doing photoshoots with regular themes, I wanted to do concept-based makeover looks for senior actors. As a regular audience, we all have a certain perception of character actors in the industry and how they look. I wanted to break that stereotypical notion. I did a concept-based photoshoot with actor Manobala and many lauded his new stylish look. Apart from him, I did shoots with Sendrayan, Paruthiveeran fame Saravanan, Mansoor Ali Khan, actor-turned-politician Karunaas and many other character actors,” says Sathya.

 Though all the photos went viral on social media, Sathya’s concept-based shoots with actors Nasser and Vivekh is still the talk of the tinsel town. “In a recent Film Producers Council meeting, Nasser sir was sporting a new look — he looked different with a white beard. I thought it will be refreshing to see him in a western, but vintage look. I approached Nasser sir with this idea, but he was not interested at first. I didn’t give up - I followed up with him and it took a few months to get a green signal from him. Nasser sir was doubtful about the shoot initially; but by the end of it, he was satisfied and happy. He spent around five hours with us. During the shoot, he shared a lot of interesting stories from his film journey. Even for Vivekh sir, I had to wait for a few weeks to get his approval. I wanted to portray him as a rugged don and his white beard and mustache completed the entire look. Both the actors were excited about the entire shoot,” he reminisces. Sathya has decided that he will be only doing shoots with character actors from the industry. “This is a series and I wanted it to be like that. I have done nine stylish design shoots so far and I aim to complete 100 shoots,” he shares.