Dulquer Salmaan — Close — the soft spread collar, worn open and unbuttoned — Close — the soft spread collar, worn open and unbuttoned · Still from the “Mental Manadhil” video, O Kadhal Kanmani (2015)

Dulquer Salmaan — On the bike: the striped chest pocket against the plain white body — On the bike: the striped chest pocket against the plain white body · Still from the “Mental Manadhil” video, O Kadhal Kanmani (2015)

Dulquer Salmaan — In motion, and how much air there is in the cut — In motion, and how much air there is in the cut · Still from the “Mental Manadhil” video, O Kadhal Kanmani (2015)

Dulquer Salmaan — On the Gateway steps — the whole fit, and how teal the jeans really are — On the Gateway steps — the whole fit, and how teal the jeans really are · Still from the “Mental Manadhil” video, O Kadhal Kanmani (2015)

O Kadhal Kanmani · 2015 2 pieces

The Mental Manadhil white shirt and teal jeans

A white shirt with one striped pocket, and jeans that are properly teal

Worn byDulquer Salmaan
FilmO Kadhal Kanmani (2015)
DirectorMani Ratnam
SceneAdi, riding across Mumbai in the “Mental Manadhil” number

Adi rides across Mumbai for the whole of "Mental Manadhil" in the same two garments, and the song is shot bright, wide and in daylight, so this is about as clearly as any look on this site can be read.

The shirt is plain white cotton, worn open at the top two or three buttons, untucked, with the sleeves pushed back to the forearm. The collar is a soft spread, unbuttoned, and it flaps around a good deal on the bike. The cut is generous rather than fitted — there is a lot of air in it.

The detail worth knowing about, and the reason this shirt is findable at all, is the pocket. There is one patch pocket at the left chest, and it is not white: it is made from a contrast grey-and-white horizontal stripe, so it sits on the plain body as a small block of pattern. At a distance it reads as a smudge or a shadow. It only resolves as a stripe up close, and it is the one thing that makes the shirt specific rather than generic.

The jeans are the other half of it, and they are not indigo. They are a saturated teal — a proper petrol blue-green, several steps away from any normal denim wash, and bright enough that they read as a colour choice rather than a pair of jeans. Straight through the leg, mid-rise, turned up very slightly at the ankle.

His shoes are deliberately not listed. There is exactly one shot in the song where a foot is visible at all — sitting on the Gateway steps — and even there it is at an angle and half in shadow. It is plainly a dark low-top with a pale tan toe, but whether that is a canvas sneaker or an espadrille never becomes clear, and guessing between them would be the easiest way to get this page wrong.

The pieces below are lookalikes, not the originals. This costume was made for the film and was never sold; each entry notes where it differs from what is on screen.

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