3 min readHyderabadUpdated: Nov 4, 2026 04:24 PM ISTActress, filmmaker and stylist Renu Desai has shared previously untold details about styling Pawan Kalyan’s films in the early 2000s, revealing that she used to shop for the actor at London’s Selfridges alongside Karan Johar, who was there doing the same for Shah Rukh Khan, and that one of Pawan Kalyan’s most iconic on-screen looks involved a pair of pants so rare that only five were ever made, with David Beckham owning one of the them.Renu Desai, who has consistently described herself as a stylist rather than a costume designer, said she used to travel to London to pick up clothes for Pawan Kalyan around 2001, when the actor was at the peak of his commercial run in Telugu cinema following hits like Badri. “I used to go to London to pick up clothes for my ex-husband, Pawan Kalyan,” Renu Desai said in a conversation with Visual Talks podcast. “There were two people in a big mall, Selfridges. I used to pick up clothes for Pawan Kalyan, Karan Johar used to pick up clothes for Shah Rukh Khan. I’ve run into him many times, just picking up clothes.”The actress then shared what may be the most detailed account yet of one of the most talked-about looks in Telugu cinema. She described sourcing a pair of rare pants from a high-end fashion store in Milan for one of Pawan Kalyan’s films. “I bought two pairs of pants from this store in Milan, the famous ‘Balu’ pants,” Renu Desai said. “Back then, only five pairs were made because they used real Second World War fabric. You had to pay in advance and then wait a few months to pick them up. Only five pairs existed, and each cost like Rs 75,000,” Pawan Kalyan in his iconic ‘World War II fabric’ pants, styled by Renu DesaiShe said one of the five pairs went to footballer David Beckham. “One pair even went to David Beckham. When I went to see them, they showed me, and I grabbed one,” she said.Renu Desai recounted that she had to pay an advance, fly back from India to Milan months later just to collect the pants, and return within three days. “Back then, there weren’t big courier services or anything, so I had to fly back to Milan to pick up the pants,” she recalled.She said she convinced the film’s producer that the investment was worth it by arguing that the pants would give the film a talking point that outlasted its theatrical run. “I said, if we spend an extra Rs 25,000, at least we’ll have something. Money-wise, we didn’t lose out because the producer got a talking point. Even today, after 26 years, we’re still talking about that point,” she said.Also Read: Pawan Kalyan’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh dominates Dhurandhar 2: The Telugu box office clash no one can call yetStory continues below this adThe styling from Pawan Kalyan’s early 2000s films, particularly the overall Western aesthetic Renu Desai brought to his wardrobe, remains a reference point in Telugu pop culture two decades later.Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.Tags:Pawan Kalyan