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Manish Malhotra, Papa Don’t Preach by Shubhika, and Murder Mystery 2’s costume designer Debra McGuire talks about the movie’s Indian Designs and Indian cultural portrayal in Western cinema.
It wasn’t that long ago that Indians were, at best, treated as background characters in Western films. In contrast to Murder Mystery 2, these characters were represented by an Uber driver, a geeky overachieving student, contact center tech support, healthcare providers, and hippy spiritualists.
Similar Shows In Past
Particularly horrible childhood memories are evoked by Padma and Parvati Patil’s Yule Ball attire in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Shows like Devi Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever and Kate and Edwina Sharma in Bridgerton Season 2 have included more appropriate portrayals of complex and nuanced South Asian main characters throughout time.
That’s not to imply that there haven’t been recent instances of inaccurate depictions. In the And Just Like That… episode about Diwali, Carrie Bradshaw is shown putting on a “sari” as she enters a “sari store” with her new Indian acquaintance Seema. Yet, the store sells a wide range of Indian clothing in addition to saris, with lehengas predominating in the images. Bradshaw isn’t donning a sari either; instead, she’s donning a lehenga by Falguni & Shane Peacock.
STORY OF MURDER MYSTERY 2
When the new Murder Mystery 2 video was released, the word immediately spread online and people started to pay attention. The comedy-thriller, which will debut on Netflix on March 31st, follows up four years after the previous film: The Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar), a friend of Audrey Spitz (Jennifer Aniston) and her husband Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) invite them to his wedding to Claudette (Mélanie Laurent). The wedding soon transforms from the century’s most anticipated destination wedding into an abduction robbery, with the bride as the main suspect.
Nick and Audrey may be seen wearing matching white Manish Malhotra sherwanis throughout the teaser. Audrey is wearing a white Manish Malhotra lehenga. Claudette welcomes the guests to the celebrations on the maharaja’s private island while donning a Papa Don’t Preach by Shubhika kurta with elaborate beadwork and traditional wedding red trousers.
The movie’s Indian wedding sequences are a key component that initiates the remainder of the plot. To ensure that the stage design, music, dances, and attire were as realistic as possible, the production had a consultant on staff.
Debra McGuire, the movie’s costume designer, remarked that it was about time when she learned she would be dressing hundreds of individuals in Indian garb. “Murder Mystery 2 provided an opportunity to design clothing and have it produced in India. I brought a lot of expertise to this production, which I shared with the director and the performers,” adds McGuire.
McGuire is familiar with Indian culture despite not being an Indian herself. McGuire is familiar with Indian culture despite not being an Indian herself. I’ve been collecting beautiful beaded Indian textiles for many years, and my studio is full of them,” says McGuire. She has previously designed Indian clothes for TV series like New Girl, creates unique looks at her atelier for private customers and the Academy Awards, and is frequently asked by friends to be a consultant for their wedding event attire and sangeet attire.
The choice of colors and designs was deliberate, despite several Indian comments hoping the patterns were more vibrant and seductive. The Maharajah’s groom’s side wore purple, while Claudette’s bridal side wore red. McGuire chooses white to emphasize the titular characters and make them stand out amid a sea of people above the audience.
Manish Malhotra offered a few less conventional designs, but she says she gravitated towards them because she thought they would be more appropriate and appreciative of the way the sequences were written.
Jennifer wanted to wear an Indian lehenga that was modern yet adorned the spirit of Indian craftsmanship, according to Malhotra, who describes the cooperation and creative process for the three-month-long production of the lehenga.
Given that the wedding will be on a beach, Debra McGuire and I agreed on the color ivory. We decided on a handcrafted back tassel, a flowery top with elaborate embroidery and pearl drops, and a Chikankari Lehenga with graduated rectangular designs.
Some stills from the trailer are given below:
Murder Mystery 2 will be released on 31st March 2024, with Jenifer Aniston as Audrey Spitz, Adam Sandler as Nick Spitz, Adeel Akhtar as Maharaja, and Kuhoo Verma as Saira. Really excited to watch this movie which portrays Indian culture in a very beautiful way.
