The weddings on Made in Heaven season 2 will either make you want to walk down the aisle or swear to be single forever. But each one of the weddings on the show, under the direction of Made in Heaven’s production designer Sally White, will give you all the feels. The South Africa-based production designer may ‘not have attended a single Indian wedding’ herself, but she certainly rose to the occasion, when the show’s co-creator Zoya Akhtar asked her to curate the weddings in Made in Heaven 1 and 2. Also read: Real wedding planners reveal if Made In Heaven gets lavish weddings right
Speaking about the the careful curation of the weddings on Made in Heaven 2, Sally revealed in a telephonic interview, “I have done many weddings in South Africa. But I have never done an Indian wedding in my life. I had done one small one for a commercial, though. So, it (Made in Heaven) was a lot of research, a lot of reading. So that is how it started.”
Curating lavish Indian weddings for OTT
As anyone who’s been to a real-life Indian wedding knows, they can be rife with romance, emotions, and a heavy dash of drama. And much like Made in Heaven season 1, Made in Heaven 2 showcased lavish Indian weddings with massive floral arrangements and opulent settings, which formed the backdrop for a storyline that gripped viewers with its drama. Moreover, in season 2, weddings emerged as a main character unto themselves, oftentimes leaving clues of what a given scene might reveal. So, how were these weddings curated?
Sally said she along with the show’s producers travelled across Delhi in February 2020, before the Covid-19 lockdown, for recce. Sally, who first met Zoya in connection with her 2015 film Dil Dhadakne Do, which she was unable to work on, spoke about the process of designing the weddings on Made in Heaven 2.
She said, “Basically if you find the venue, where the wedding is and you find the right place for the wedding, that will dictate the colour palette. So, you know you are looking for a wealthy place, or you’re looking for a Muslim place, or you’re looking for something that could pass for Jain. Once you find the correct place, that dictates everything. The script was already with me and I would come back with all these places and she (Zoya) would go ‘yes-no, yes-no, yes-no’. Each wedding, obviously I wanted it to be different, have more depth, but not with so many people as it was shot after Covid-19 pandemic.”
Most extravagant wedding on Made in Heaven 2
Sally, who has also worked with Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti‘s production house Tiger Baby for a couple of upcoming projects, said the wedding in episode 5 is something that a lot of people have commented on. Made in Heaven 2’s fifth episode, The Heart Skipped a Beat, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and featuring Radhika Apte, has been a topic of discussion. Her Buddhist wedding ceremony, in particular, is grabbing attention with many calling the episode the best of the lot this season.
Asked about her favourite weddings and the ones that turned out to be the most elaborate from season 2, Sally said, “I would not say the Buddhist one was the most extravagant, but it was the most beautiful. I’d say, the one in episode 7 (Starring Sarah-Jane Dias and Imaad Shah, and titled A taste of Heaven), or the one in episode 4 (Starring Pulkit Samrat and Elnaaz Norouzi, and titled Love Story). The whole set in France (For episode 4) was pretty huge. For Zoya’s wedding in episode 7, we had two tents that we built in the forest. We had the reception, and a wedding in forest, and we also had band night. So, I would say that was definitely the most extravagant, actually.”
Meet episode 7’s real wedding designer
Founded by Ambika Gupta, The A-Cube Project, a bespoke Chennai-based wedding design company, worked with Sally for episode 7 of Made in Heaven 2 featuring Sarah-Jane Dias. Ambika spoke about the process of designing floral arrangements in collaboration with the show’s makers and team. She said, “We utilised the budget very optimistically, because it needs to approved by the producer and there are so many chains. We worked on ways to repurpose the flowers and minimise the wastage. We worked really hard to accomplish the look and aesthetic of episode 7 under the kickass leadership of Sally White.”
She also revealed that the entire process – from meeting the show’s team for the first time to winding up the shoot – took about 45 days. Further speaking about how they made the most of their resources, Ambika said, “They (Made in Heaven 2 makers) needed a wedding designer to give insights into how the weddings could look for realistic. Sourcing of props was the biggest part – sourcing things on rent as much as possible, rather than buying. To go through all the gowdowns of Mumbai, tent houses, and film prop shops to source things for the smallest, tiniest details. It was very different to what we usually do for weddings because over there we are creating in real-time, whereas here you make a set and within five minutes the director will change the angle based on the shot to be taken and all the props need to move. So it was never over, we were constantly moving. The process was pretty intense.”
About Made In Heaven
Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the Prime Video show is an anthology series headlined by Karan Mehra (Arjun) and Sobhita Dhulipala (Tara), who play wedding planners. Theirs as well as their clients’ narratives play out against the backdrop of lavish Indian weddings. Apart from Neeraj Ghaywan, Zoya and Reema, the episodes are directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and Nitya Mehra.