Sheetal Sharma is a Mumbai-based Bollywood costume designer who started his journey with Miss Lovely in 2012 and today, the 37-year-old designer is known for his unique style of working which involves a lot of background study and in-depth research of characters.
Sheetal did his Graduation in fashion from Wigan and Leigh College, Mumbai, and received Masters in Period Costumes from London, and came back to India with a motive to be an integral part of the creative world. Recalling his early days, Sheetal says, “I had just returned from London and was looking for an opportunity in the world of fashion, that’s when Miss Lovely came to me and things worked out and I started with my first Bollywood break and rest as they say is history.”
Sheetal has worked on more than 40 films till date and got public attention in 2019, when he received the Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design for the film Manto (2018). For a costume designer, a day at the location is often between 16-18 hours, and Sheetal calls it’s a routine affair. He agrees, “When you have to work on costumes of 100-200 people a day, 16 hours schedule is quite normal.” “The trick is to pre-plan your day in advance and life looks simpler,” adds Sheetal who is very meticulous with his planning and execution as a designer.
Costume designers often indulge in the character or plot of the story to sketch the look and feel, but Sheetal goes beyond the obvious and tries to imagine and recreate the past of the character to build its present. He explains, “After the narration, I build an imaginary storyboard of past of the central and even supporting characters and go back in time to understand the look, feel, and ideology of the character and then build the look test for the present character.”
Sheetal considers every project challenging and demanding, as he tries to push the envelope in every project. But for Sheetal, the most challenging one till date had been Miss Lovely. He admits, “I guess it is because it was my first film and I had no clue how the system works and I had to juggle a lot to streamline my work and the way I function as an individual.”
At present, he is working on 5 big projects and is pretty sorted, and knows the art of work-life balance. He reveals, “The art of pre-planning, and organizing my work before the schedule has helped me become a multi-tasker and that’s the reason I can manage so much work at a time and a big credit goes to my team too, who knows my style of working and plan things accordingly.”
From Shah Rukh Khan to Kangana Ranaut, Sheetal has worked with all A-listers and feels that mutual trust makes the work easier. He shares, “While I working on the look of Akshay Kumar for Kesari, he wasn’t too sure about it, but had immense faith in my vision and then his look was widely appreciated on social media, and he too was very happy about it.”
For Sheetal, social media is just a medium of entertainment. He admits, “I know that in present time, it’s very important to be active on social media, but I think it’s not me and I am happy in my own creative space.” “My team has always to push me the type of content I should post and that too I often delay, but I try to be as punctual as I can be,” he accepts.
As per Sheetal’s Instagram bio, he is a food lover and he admits, “While I love to eat all types of food, I am more of a passionate cook, who loves to cook to unwind stress and to please his loved ones.” “I can cook anything and the art of cooking is very therapeutic for me,” adds Sheetal who left a hotel management course during the early years of his college career.
Sheetal loves to live in present and make the most of it and never thinks too much about the future. He admits, “I am enjoying the present and I love what I do and hope to continue making memories to cherish forever. I wish to direct a movie in the future too and I am sure this dream is not too far from me.”
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