Niharika Khan & Vidya Balan
Niharika Khan & Vidya Balan

Sharing the National Award for Best Costume Design, is the quirky and bubbly Niharika Khan, for her costumes in The Dirty Picture.

Speaking long-distance, from a shoot on location in Bangkok, Niharika tells us, “I got a message from film critic Udita Jhunjhunwala, saying “congratulations babe” and I thought she was referring to the Filmfare Award! Then, I got numerous calls from numbers I didn’t have registered on my handset, and thought they were trying a wrong number! Finally, a TV news channel called me and said I’d won the National Award with Neeta Lulla…and I was shocked! I didn’t believe it! I thought someone was pulling my leg! So I called my brother, Arjun Bhasin, and he confirmed it for me!

The most important part about winning this award for Niharika (her first National Award), is the fact that “It’s like celebrating the sexuality of a woman’s body. I’m actually being honoured for making a woman loook sexy,” she reveals. “And I’m glad that India is slowly waking up to celebrating a woman’s body and her sexuality.”

Congratulations Niharika, from Team MissMalini!