- Ana Singh is the first Indian individual to earn the sobriquet Designer in the Indian film industry. And that's not the only first that she scored in an illustrious career spanning 3 decades and more to date - and still going strong. Starting her career while still in her teens, she did her first film when she was just 17 years old. After that, she embarked upon a distinguished and unparalleled journey into film costume design that set her name amongst the legends of the Indian film industry.
Born on 25th December, 1968 to Manjeet Kaur, an artist and housewife and businessman Santokh Singh Benepal (with a family background of farming and the armed forces) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; Ana Singh was destined to blaze her own path of glory in life. She's married to marketing honcho Jaiveer Singh Panwar. Her paternal grandfather fought in the Second World War in Germany as part of the Sikh Regiment. The family's social background of farming and services in the armed forces instilled in Ana Singh a humanitarian political view right since childhood.
In her growing up years, while most of her peers at the JJ Petit Girls High School in Bandra, Mumbai were busy chalking out a career in civil services or other high profile jobs - she chose to pursue her creative inclinations after matriculation and enrolled at the prestigious JJ School of Arts for a major in Textiles, Commercial Art and Color History. She proved those who doubted her choice and abilities by scoring a Gold Medal on graduation.
While still at the JJ School of Arts, Ana simultaneously enrolled for a two-year-course in pattern making, pattern cutting and tailoring course with a French Lady Desiree who ran a fabulous school at the time. After this, she also learnt men's fashion cutting.
Even while still in college, she'd begun working as a costume designer in films - partly to fund her own education, but also with a firm belief that she would bring about a 360-degree paradigm change to the way film costumes were designed, actors presented on screen and the perception of her chosen profession viewed by people. In that era, Indian cinema was a very male-dominated industry and besides the heroine and the actresses - there were no women working on the technical side of filmmaking. Ana Singh was a pioneer in her field who brought about a change in the perception of women working shoulder-to-shoulder with men and earning respect while creating opportunities for women in creative technical fields. She also created an atmosphere of gender equality, which went on to becoming a formidable fraternity today.
That is also the time when she signed her first film as costume designer - Maine Pyar Kiya - with Salman Khan and Bhagyashree for Sooraj Barjatya's debut under his prestigious Rajshree Films banner - and the rest, as they say, is history. She's the first Indian Costume Designer to have worked in all genres of films - War, Glamour, Historical, Period pieces, realistic, futuristic and art for men and women.
Her fame and repertoire of work is not just limited to Indian Cinema but has transcended to bring her glory internationally too. She was the first Indian designer to work with Michael Jackson, Will Smith and P Daddy.
Amongst the Indian film stars, Ana Singh has designed for and worked with 3 generations spanning more than 3 decades not only in films but also in ad-films, international shows, live events, appearances, ceremonial, wedding wardrobes and some serious image consultancy thus creating many icons in the bargain.
The film not only set the box-office registers ringing; but also set new benchmarks for film costume design - and in one fell stroke, Ana Singh changed the game and the business forever. Bhagyashree and Salman Khan's outfits from the film became such a rage amongst youth not only in India, but also with Indian film buffs across the world - that tailors were asked to copy them, replicate them and people strut out wearing those designs. This kind of affirmation in her art, skill and craft not only gave the young Ana Singh the confidence, but also validated and exalted her position - that of a new profession of costume designer who had made a banging debut on the film firmament. Be it Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan or the Deol clan of Dharamendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Abhay Deol and Esha Deol; Shatrughan Sinha and daughter Sonakshi Sinha; Ajay Devgn and Kajol Devgn, Tanuja and Tanishaa Mukherjee, Aditya Pancholi and Sooraj Pancholi, The Khan khandaan of Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, Akbar Khan, Fardeen Khan and Zayed Khan, Sunil Dutt and Sanjay Dutt, Jackie and Tiger Shroff, Shammi Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Khanna, Rakesh Roshan and Hrithik Roshan, Dimple Kapadia, Tina Khanna and Rinke Khanna, Chunky Pandey and Ananya Pandey, etc. they've all shined on the marquee with Ana Singh's creations.
The list of clients and stars Ana Singh's worked with and designed for reads like a who's who of the A-Listers of Indian cinema. Hema Malini, Rekha, Kabir Bedi, Madhuri Dixit, Pooja Bhatt, Manisha Koirala, Raveena Tandon, Sonam, Sonu Walia, Sangeeta Bijlani, Kimi Katkar, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Sushmita Sen, Pooja Batra, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Arjun Rampal, Aftab Shivdasani, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Suniel Shetty, Shabana Azmi, Mithun Chakravarty, Kangana Ranawat, Katrina Kaif, Dia Mirza, Nana Patekar, Govinda, Manoj Bajpai, Sonali Bendre, Rani Mukherjee, Divya Bharti, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Chandrachur Singh, Dino Morea, Jaaved Jaafri, Saif Ali Khan, Amrita Singh, Juhi Chawla, Namrata Shirodkar, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty, Sridevi, Tabu, Urmila Matondkar, Dara Singh, Helen, Zeenat Aman, Simi Garewal, Waheeda Rehman, Anushka Sharma and the list continues.
In the South Indian Film Industry too, Ana Singh has made her mark having worked with some of the all-time-greats like Chiranjeevi, Mammooty, Venkatesh Rao, A R Rahman, Prabhudeva and done maximum work with Nagarjuna.
The list of directors for whom Ana Singh worked with in their magnum opuses include India's legendary names like Yash Chopra, A R Rahman, Farah Khan, Sooraj Barjatya, Gulzar, J P Dutta, Kalpana Lajmi, Karan Johar, Kundan Shah, Madhur Bhandarkar, Mahesh Bhatt, Mani Ratnam, Mukul Anand, Nagesh Kukkunoor, Prakash Jha, Priyadarshan, Raj Kumar Santoshi, Rajendra Kumar, Ram Gopal Varma, Ramesh Sippy, Pankaj Parashar, Shekhar Kapur, Shyam Benegal, Subhash Ghai, Suneel Darshan, Tanuja Chandra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vikram Bhatt, Vishal Bharadwaj and many more.
Iconic Films of Ana Singh Maine Pyar Kiya, Tridev, Gardish, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Bombay, 1942 - A Love Story, Barsaat, Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin, Sadak, Patthar Ke Phool, Refugee, Khalnayak, Beta, Raja, Dil, Sailaab, Andaaz Apna Apna, Ghulam, Rangeela, Vaastav, Saajan, Aashiqui 1, Vishwaatma, Dil Se, Border, Hum Saath, Saath Hain, Akele Hum, Akele Tum, Soldier, Agneepath, Deewana, Agnisakshi, Koyla, Dushmani, Trimurti, Yes Boss, Hum, Aankhen, Yeh Dillagi, Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa, Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke, Virasat, Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Sarfarosh, Sarkar 2 & 3, Zakhm, Agnivarsha, Mission Kashmir, Gupt, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, Omkara, London Dreams, Kareeb, Khakhee, Golmaal 1, 2 & 3, Aaina, Choker Baali, Raincoat, Antar Mahal, Kalapaani, Anjaam, One 2 ka 4, Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Parinda, Tarkieb, Joru Ka Ghulam, Khauff, Khoobsurat, Laawaris, Veer, Umrao Jaan, Taj Mahal, Yugpurush, Aar Ya Paar, Criminal, Bharat, Rang, Tehelka, King Uncle, Yaadein, Angaar, Patthar Ke Insaan, Hafta Band, 100 Days, Sangeet, Dil Hi To Hai, Sapne Saajan Ke, Roop Ki Rani, Choron Ka Raja, Milan, God & Gun, Kartoos, Vishwavidhata, Kabhi Na Kabhi, Hote Hote Pyaar Ho Gaya, Kahiin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye, Grahan, Albela, Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai, Lajja, Devdas, Teen Deewarein, Sandhya, Bhoot Uncle, Apna Sapna Money, Money, Bhagam Bhaag, Maryada Puroshattam, Pappu Paas Ho Gaya, Ek- The Power of One, Charge Sheet, Dhoom 3, Mahabharat, Happy New Year, Brothers, Chehre, Housefull 3, Shoonyata, Paltan, Romeo, Akbar, Walter, Radhe, Sooryavanshi, Rashtriya Kavachh: Om, Baaghi 3, Munna Michael, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai...
For her stellar and inspiring work as a designer, woman entrepreneur and trail-blazing achievements, Ana Singh has been acclaimed, recognized, honored and applauded with many awards. She won the Rajeev Gandhi Women Achiever Award, at Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi. She was honoured with a National Award for costume design for Mission Kashmir and also the International Study Circle Award along with Vidhu Vinod Chopra for the research on terrorism in the Indian Subcontinent for the same film, which was printed into a book, to be shared with RAW, making her a scholar in the field.
Ana Singh won her second National Award for costumes designed in Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal - A Love Story. During the making of Taj Mahal, since the film was based in the 16th Century of the Mughal Rule in India, Ana Singh faced an uphill challenge when she was unable to source fabrics that looked authentic and real belonging to that period. Never satisfied and uncompromising in her commitment to authenticity and quality of her creations, Ana hired a group of weavers on location at Meherangarh fort in Jodhpur. She personally sat and had the weavers weave all the Mughal fabrics of the period like the old Jamevar, as also the fusion of velvet and kim-khab. Thus Ana was able to create the fabrics that depicted the period authentically in the film. The workshop with the weavers based at Meherangarh fort lasted for 8 months. This truly fulfilled the designer's penchant for perfection.
The crown that was created for the film The Taj Mahal, encrusted and bejeweled with Swarovski crystals was identified as one of the 100 best pieces created using Swarovski and is on permanent display at the Swarovski Museum in Salzberg, Austria titled - The Taj.
Also, a Swarovski headgear envisioned and created by Ana Singh for Beyonce made headlines across the globe and was a trendsetter.
Ana Singh was again honored with her 3rd National Award for her work in J P Dutta's Umrao Jaan starring Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. Zee Award was also bestowed upon Ana Singh for Umrao Jaan that year for Best Costume Design. She's also been the recipient of 3 MTV Awards for Trend Setting Designer of the Year. Ana was accorded the Great Women's Achievers Award by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry - Lady's Organisation. Besides these, Ana has also been felicitated with the Indian Television Academy Award for contribution to Indian Cinema.
Ana Singh scored yet another first by being included in the Limca Book of Records for doing the most number of 556 films as costume designer in India in the year 2007. She took her extraordinary league into yet unchartered waters worldwide, when her name was recognized and included in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the only designer in the world to have done 986 films as on that date. Ana Singh is in the enviable and unassailable position today of having done a total number of 1014 films to date, an unbroken record still...and her journey still continues.
Even as she was making headlines and heads turn with her stupendous achievements and success in Indian Cinema, Ana Singh's indefatigable spirit saw her taking on the mantle to the fashion and beauty world when she took on the Femina Miss India Pageant as the official designer. Under the expert guidance and tutelage of Mr. Pradeep Guha, President, The Times of India Group - from 1993 to 1998 - for six years - Ana not only designed for the Femina Miss India Pageant and all it's sub-contests, but was also instrumental in grooming and providing image consultancy to the Miss Indias who went on to contest at the Miss World and Miss Universe Pageants. This includes Gul Panag, Neha Dhupia, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Dia Mirza, Celina Jaitley, Diana Hayden, Priyanka Chopra, Pooja Batra, Lara Dutta and Limrayna D'Souza who brought back the crown making India proud. Ana Singh scored on her designs and wardrobes when several of the Miss Indias at the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants won the Best National Costume awards too. Through these pageants and contests Ana Singh was able to showcase through Miss Indias the rich culture, heritage, design and fashion of India on international platforms.
Ana notched up her game further when she simultaneously took on the Femina Look of The Year Contests, again for the Times of India Group, while simultaneously doing the Femina Miss India Pageants. It was a contest for Indian Supermodels and the winners would go on to represent India at the Elite Model Look Contest. Ana Singh emphatically handled duties as the Official designer and grooming coach for all the contests from 1994 to 1999 and was instrumental in putting Madhu Sapre, Sheetal Mallar, Ujwala Raut, Karisma Modi, Carol Gracias and Nethra Raghuraman on the international map.
When Miss Universe Lara Dutta wanted to launch her own personal line of designer sarees, she called upon her mentor and best-friend Ana Singh to design the collection, which debuted at Studio Saks - the premiere fashion destination in Chennai. The range of sarees were created by Ana Singh with a new fabric Chiffon Tissue - customized to order in Lucknow. The opening of the collection was attended by Nagarjuna, wife Amala, Venkatesh Rao, Priyadarshan, Saundarya, Revathi, Sarika, Gautami and Suhasini Ratnam.
Due to her popularity with the film fraternity Wizcraft signed Ana Singh as the official designer for Indian International Film Awards and her work was so dazzling that they continued with her as the official designer for 5 years. During this period Ana Singh designed costumes for all the star performers, all the acts and all the comperes - a tally of about 170+ costumes at each show. Besides, she dressed and designed for most of the green carpet celebrity attendees at the shows that took place in Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Dubai and Tampa Bay in the United States. With these shows Ana got the opportunity to showcase and took the representation of Indian film costumes to the world. She also conducted several master classes and workshops during these shows at international venues for the audiences to understand the medium of costume designing for films and also spoke elaborately about setting trends and creating icons.
In celebration of Ana Singh completing 20 years in the fashion profession - she created a menswear line of 800 shirts of hand painted Christian Art in collaboration with Swarovski and the Fashion House of Kimaya. The collection was put up at Kimaya and was attended by Kabir Bedi, Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Bobby Deol and Salman Khan. The media acknowledged that no filmmaker has managed to get so many superstar heroes under roof and aptly headlined this news as - Singh is King.
Furthermore, the collection stayed strong through that year selling over 12000 exclusive pieces that kept Ana and her design team busy painting for the whole of her 20th year in the industry.
One eminent person Mr. Vijay Mallya patronized that style to a great extent and commissioned Ana three uber exclusive fashion shows to be presented by Kingfisher First Class. The brief given was for a new fabric and exclusive print which would be Kingfisher first class' expression. The fashion shows were held with fabrics and prints newly created for this exclusive line. 250 elite and VIP guests were especially flown in for these shows held in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and were further endorsed by showstoppers like Salman Khan, Lara Dutta (Miss Universe), Karisma Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty. All the clothes from the show were gifted by Mr. Vijay Mallya to the guests.
Scoring yet another first in the fashion world, when Mr. Lalit Modi and Mr. Michael Adams brought Fashion TV (FTV) to India, they called upon Ana Singh to be the Chief Fashion Consultant for the high-fashion TV channel for 3 years.
Due to the successful association, it further got consolidated when Mr. Lalit Modi invited Ana Singh to be the creative promoter of world class mens brand Ermenogeldo Zegna's debut in India. The brand was so well received and Ana Singh ensured that the who's who of India only wore Zegna for the next 2 years. She thus created great visibility and economic success.
Having scored in Indian Cinema Costumes as well as the beauty and fashion worlds of India, Ana Singh then set her target to International shores when she won the costume designing project for the Michael E. Ward produced musical, Far Pavilions, that debuted in 2005 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's prestigious West End. The show ran for 3 years and offered Ana Singh the unique opportunity to showcase India's royalty and its splendor. As the musical ran for years, Ana moved bag and baggage to London for one year and kept visiting often to oversee the costume department for as long as the show ran.
It was a life-changing and surreal experience for Ana as she faced extreme racism, and had to compete with 5 Emmy nominated costumieres to finally be named as the first Indian designer to work in a West End Musical Show in London. The show was such a success, and Ana's work so well received that Prince Charles and Lady Camilla Parker-Bowles gave a letter of appreciation to Ana during the Royal Gala which is the premiere of the show attended by all the royals seated in the Royal Box. They greatly appreciated Ana's ability of bringing alive the royal majesty of India and showcasing it so exquisitely through the costumes.
Commonwealth Games: A Dream Job
As John Lennon of The Beatles once famously said: "There's nowhere you can be, where you're not meant to be..." and this quote rings truest in Ana Singh's destiny as she truly worked hard with single-minded devotion to her craft and thus, fortunes smiled at her once more when she was asked to design costumes for the biggest and best show of her career thus far - The Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games of 2010.
Her tryst with the assignment actually came in 2006, when the Indian contingent travelled to Melbourne, Australia to receive the ceremonial torch as the next host of the games in 2010. For the grand event, the theme was to showcase India's rich and varied dance forms and musical heritage of India with leading exponents like Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sonu Nigam, Sivamani, Zakir Hussain, Birju Maharaj, Shobhana Narayan, Shambhu Maharaj Uma Sharma, Rohini Bhate and Gopi Krishna. Filmstars like Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan also were part of the Indian contingent. Ana Singh was the official designer for the ceremony and she created a befitting and bejeweled showcase of India, bringing alive the rich tapestry of Indian musical traditions over the centuries.
The show was so well received that when the Commonwealth Games were being planned in New Delhi India for 2010, Ana Singh was once again called upon by Mr. Bharat Bala to bring her formidable talent, resourcefulness and experience in design to showcase India at its best by none other than the then Chief Minister of New Delhi, Sheila Dixit. Thus Ana Singh was chosen to be the official designer for both the opening and the closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India in 2010.
The theme of the opening ceremony was the depiction of every state of India through its costumes, music, dance and culture. Ana Singh rose up to the challenge and delivered what she calls her most eclectic and satisfying work so far, with aplomb. Ana visited every state in India to do the research on the subject to bring out the true essence, the authenticity of every state and to do overall justice to the mammoth once-in-a-lifetime project.
For the closing ceremony the theme was the depiction of all the singers of India and Ana created more than 4 lakh costumes for the memorable event that is etched in every Indian's memory even now. At the time, 12 full-load trucks with 3500 trunks of more than 4 lakh costumes were transported from Mumbai to New Delhi stadium. In Ana's own words: "Couldn't be more proud to be Indian."
Ana has always been a trendsetter with her path-breaking ideas that've always been ahead of times and have become de rigueur in the fashion business in India. She was the first to do a Midnight Pop Up show at Mischief, a store in Mumbai, that showcased a collection of Ana Singh's exclusive, one-of-a-kind hand-painted jeans. It sold out completely in 45 minutes flat and created a huge traffic jam.
Then again, in the year 2019, Ana Singh revisited her first love, art - and created the first of it's kind The Ana Singh Art & Design Vintage Collective - an eclectic collection of Christian Art comprising furniture, jewelry, clothes, artefacts and sculptures depicting various regions of Russia, Italy and Spain. It was a revivalist collection inspired by antique embroidered robes worn by the Popes of the past converted into modern jackets, sculptures inspired by the Sistine Chapel in Rome created with modern wood and real-gold-leafing, jewelry with beautiful cameos encrusted in light silver gold-plating and semi-precious gemstones, furniture and beds with hand painted panels. There were also some original pieces that were reassembled with a modern twist. The collection was a congruence of the vintage world with a modern new-age outlook that was put together by Ana Singh in partnership with an art and antique aficionado friend and presented by Suzanne Khan.
Ana is also active socially and her humanitarian and spiritual work and she has always used her stature in society to contribute back to the society in every little which way she's able. She has done post graduation in hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic-programming, astral meditation, healing for after life, angel reading, cellular healing for animal and humans, she's an active light worker (divine light). She is a passionate animal and plant lover and an activist who constantly raises and lends her voice against cruelty to animal and plants or generating awareness about making the planet an equal-living-sharing-home for all creations of God.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Akash Shrivastava
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