User:DhatshaPillai/sandbox

Introduction
Costume designer Dhatsha Pillai began her career with Dishyum and has since worked on a variety of movies, including Thalaimagan, Pirivom Santhippom, Mozhi, Velli Thirai and Jannal Oram, to mention a few. My visit to her studio was intended to conduct a serious interview, but instead, it turned into an endless discussion between two women about clothing, how fashion is perceived, the symbolic significance of using particular fabrics, and some intriguing techniques she employed in her most recent project, Meaghamann.

Not only the music, colours and designs have an equal power to evoke emotions of any kind in human minds. Through her academic excellence, Dhatsha has studied the intricate web of human emotions and its connection to colors.

Her academic background in Colour Psychology & Colour Analysis skilfully blends with her knowledge of fabrics, her knowledge of history of clothes in India and hos colors and clothing have evolved over centuries in this part of the world. This knowledge, academic background and her spontaneous connection to human minds make her to be the master craftsperson that she is.

Dhatsha’s grandfather Mr. C.K.Kannan, a legend himself and a founding member of the Costumer’s Union, is referred by the stalwarts of the Tamil Film industry even today.

National Award
The Subhamangala Series campaign for POTHYS designed and styled by Dhatsha Pillai won the National Award for best commercial of the year ——-. Since then Dhatsha’s association with POTHYS has been nothing less than stupendous, as she did styling and designing for more than 260 of their total 300 commercials approximately.

Styling For Two Chief Ministers
Dhatsha has so far been the only designer / stylist to be invited by the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Thiru MK Stalin to style and design the Election Campaign Clothes for both himself and his father, the thespian Thiru Kalaignar M Karunanidhi. This incredible feat was achieved during the 2016 Elections held for Tamilnadu Assembly.

Dhatsha’s association with the First family of the State has continued since then unto a point where she designed and styled the clothes for Mr Udhayanidhi Stalin in the film Psycho, directed by Mysskin.

World’s First Longest Saree
The campaign for RMKV featuring world’s first longest saree was co conceived, co designed, styled and draped by Dhatsha. This incredible feat was achieved in the year 2014.

Conceived, Designed And Directed First Ever Regional Beauty Pageant For Television
When Television channels are vying for viewership today, Dhatsha back then during her stint in Television, conceived, designed and also Directed the first ever Regional Beauty Pageant Event for Jaya TV. Being the pioneer and trendsetter of her domain, started right at the beginning of her career and continues till today.

Introduced The Concept Of Drapist
In her long and illustrious career in Advertising industry, spanning over 5000 commercials, Dhatsha was the first technician to have introduced the concept of a specialist DRAPIST to drape sarees. No other stylist or designer had introduced a speciality like this prior to her. As always Dhatsha paved the way for there her next generation.

First Designer to Introduce Character Analysis In Designing Clothes For Films
Look book for a character is an approach that is in practice now. There was no such concept when Dhatsha started her career. Being a pioneer, she introduced this approach of studying the script, identifying the script arc, analysing the character arc and the elements that would deliver authenticity to the story, characters and the film as a whole. The selection of colour, fabric and clothing (of the characters) starts only after this detailed analysis is done.

Movies and Commercials
She has also worked for the Art department and Direction's R&D department for several movies. Dhatsha has also successfully executed a commercial shoot in Bangkok with the following set up:


 * Overseas Location
 * Multiple Locations
 * All Outdoor Shoot
 * 100 Sarees for 4 Models
 * No Green Room / Change Room

Costume Solutions

 * 1) Dhatsha has successfully executed hundreds of shoots under the following circumstances
 * 2) * Clothes designed, styled and tailored for a particular model / group of models
 * 3) * Last minute changes happen and the model / models are replaced with new individuals / group
 * 4) * Featuring models travel from Mumbai / elsewhere and not available for measurements and trials
 * 5) * Source place of Sarees, Blouses, Blouse Matchings & Accessories in one city
 * 6) * Shoot happening in another city
 * 7) * Number of people featuring in the commercial in dozens
 * 8) * No way to do last minute sourcing near the shooting place to maintain the authenticity
 * 9) Photos of models sourced and clothes Re-tailored based on Dhatsha’s own calculations on their measurements.
 * 10) Successfully executed designing and styling the clothes of 4 superstars WITHIN T DAYS for a commercial for Manapuram Gold Loan

Education
Graduation from Stella Maris College, Chennai

Post Graduation from NIFT, Chennai

Diploma in Color Appreciation - Nangyang University, Singapore