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​Visually connecting though humorous tales
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Bajirao Mastani: A Fashionable Voyage
Unfolding a tale of love and loss through the extravagant wardrobe essentials, sculpted for a crowning period drama
Bajirao Mastani Film Poster with the Lead cast
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Bajirao Mastani is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnum opus that painted the big screen with grandiose sets and an admirable finery. The story is about a love triangle between Peshwa Bajirao-who was married to Kashibai, but hopelessly falls in love with Mastani - a Muslim warrior princess. The story is deeply embedded with an ascendancy of an all-consuming love, a tragic loss, and the severely passé opposition of a highly conservative society, who staunchly upholds the practice of highlighting the disparity between the Hindu and Muslim community.
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Deepika Padukone who played the role of Mastani
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Image Credits : Bajirao Mastani
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Illustration Credits :
Tanisha Bhattacharya
Epitome of Regalia
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Priyanka Chopra who played the role of Kashibai.
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Image Credits : Bajirao Mastani
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Illustration Credits : Tanisha Bhattacharya
Caressed With
Traditions
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Ranveer Singh who played the role of Peshwa Bajirao.
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Image Credits : Bajirao Mastani
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Illustration Credits : Aimen Tamboowala
The Crowning
Glory
In a conversation with the costume designer of the film - Anju Modi - an Indian fashion designer, who has previously designed for Ram Leela as well- another Sanjay Leela Bhansali period production, shared her views on the challenges that always lie ahead in the process of costume designing for this genre of films, “Majorly, in costume films, the authenticity of the costumes is very important. And we are talking of a period which is 200-300 years old. So the challenge is always there to mentally be there. Switch yourself, to live in that era. I had to actually go and visit the museums. Visit those old forts and spaces, go to those old villages and areas where you start experiencing those times. I had to mentally travel back in that era.”
On asking her to share some views on why today’s generation would be interested in such vintage fashion trends, the designer commented, “That is why I got so many accolades. Even though this period film was set in an era that was 200 years ago, it still appealed to the women of today. They all wanted Mastani’s outfits. They were on great demand. Even Priyanka’s sarees. The audiences used to copy them. It is very relevant today when there is a wedding happening and they want a replica of that costume even in today’s time.”
​Connecting the dots led to the topic of sourcing for these films which is never easy, and never a complete success either. There are always a few things missing, and till date every veteran designer, who has worked on a costume drama, knows the essence of finding era- appropriate clothing materials. There is a neat difference between the do’s and don'ts that needs to be followed, and one has got to try every resource and align them with the research done on the era being represented.
On asking the designer to elaborate further on the kind of research she must have required to do, she shared, “I don’t really get exactly the way it should be. But since I have been working in the weaving sector for the last 30 years, I chose to get my costumes weaved, especially for Bajirao Mastani - where we had to have those 9 yards sarees - Priyanka Chopra had to wear some 80 sarees, so those sarees are not available - because now a day’s nobody is wearing it. Secondly, it is of a very old era, so we can’t even say that okay, just make them wear anything. That is not possible, I had to get weavers from Maheshwar to weave those sarees in the required colour palettes. One has to have the knowledge of how to get it done. I have to be mentally present in that era, so it looks like as if I am living in that era - that is all I went ahead with to be as accurate and authentic as I can be, not only to represent a flourishing civilization but also the nuances of the protagonists.”
Hues & Styles
The key to creating something mind-blowing for all the cinephiles out there is attention to details. The character sketches were categorically represented through the use of colours, fabrics, accessories, fits, clothing styles - every littlest of details had a crucial role to play in the storyline.
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Each character had a unique personality and the designer used those character sketches to fixate on the ideal costume essentials.
Mastani:
Garbs exuding her passion
For Deepika, the actress shared, “Deepika was coming from a Persian land, though she was born by an Indian king, her lineage was coming from Persia. And Persia have these very soft skinned, very pale-blush coloured, porcelain-coloured attires. She was that fragile and delicate, so for that kind of a delicate personality - one can always think of those pastel and porcelain colours.”
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Quite an interesting approach to character analysis, now that we compare this with the visuals from the movie, we see how Deepika’s outfits aligned with her poised personality in the film. She was imbued with charisma and the delicacy of a Persian princess. Her compassion was the core of her being- the pastel shades and the lavish free flowing silhouettes like the shararas, lehengas, and Kurtis helped in accentuating the background she came from.
Pastels like mint green and muted tones like cream and beige were the primary colours in Deepika Padukone’s colour palette.
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Illustration Credits : Aimen Tamboowala
Deepika’s first visit to the Maratha Empire, she’s seen in a sharara with multiple pastel shades such as green, pink, yellow. She has a golden embellished dupatta covering her head
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Image Credits : Bajirao Mastani
Mastani’s ivory and gold lehenga. Her wardrobe consisted of lehengas and shararas in those soothing shades. Intricate embellishments near the plunging necklines, and dupatta were observed.
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Kashibai:
Clothing that mirrored her zest for life
​Anju Modi in an interview with Filmfare, for an article named “Designing grandeur”, written by Henal Bhatt which was published on November 10, 2015, said, “Priyanka Chopra is one of our most beautiful actresses. Her portrayal of Bajirao’s first wife Kashibai meant highlighting her Indian features in a way that was also representative of her stature as the wife of a Maratha warrior. Her character is vivacious and effervescent. But there are moments of deep vulnerability, which needed to be represented through her make-up and costumes. The Nawari sarees draped beautifully on her transformed her into a Marathi woman from that period.”
Seen in a purple Maharashtrian printed saree here with all the traditional jewellery like the hair pin and Nathani. The blouse has intricate floral detailing.
Illustration Credits: Aimen Tamboowala
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Reds, oranges were also few of the most noticeable shades in Kashibai’s colour palette, reflecting her vibrant personality.
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Luxurious silk sarees with printed blouses and pallu were a common sight.
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Priyanka was a quintessential example of the Marathi women from the era being represented, she was seen in traditional Maharashtrian sarees, and as mentioned earlier, her vivacious personality led to the decision of giving her a bright colour palette, smattered with hues like bright pinks, reds, purples and yellows. It helped in carving out her traits even more distinctly.
However, towards the latter part of the film, Deepika is seen in some attires that have rich shades too, on asking to elaborate on why that change was made in the colour palette, the designer shared, “Priyanka was in a very Indian-Raja Ravi Verma kind of colour combination because she was from Maharashtra. And Maharashtrians always used to wear those beautiful reds and purples and yellows and these colours are not really for Deepika.”
“But in the later scene, when she is already married to Bajirao, she is celebrating Eid, then she is wearing purple not before that. The reason being that Mastani has been in Maharashtra for quite some time now, she was married to the Peshwa, so that change in her identity had a role to play in how we make that switch in colours in the costuming process.”
After spending considerable time in Maharashtra, Deepika’s wardrobe sees a change in the colour palette where she dons a rich purple shaded sharara with intricate floral embroideries.
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Peshwa :
Dressing that resonates with his imbibed perseverance
Ranveer’s designing specifics actually had a connection with each scene that represented a specific ambience. You see a spread of colours from muted tones to bright colours, and they all have a significant role to play in the narrative.
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Another snippet of information from her Filmfare interview shed light on the colour palette used to justify Ranveer’s varied emotions as the Peshwa, “With Bajirao, we had to maintain a balance between the sobriety of his designation as a Peshwa and the opulence of that period. We also had to show a softer side of him during the emotional scenes. A wide palette of solid colours like whites and creams were employed for the sombre and emotional scenes. Red, orange or blue and deep purple were used for more celebratory settings. Chainmail armour, khaki and steel Grey were perfect for the battle scenes.”
Ranveer’s portrayal of Peshwa Bajirao had him wear a lot of Angrakhas, layered with velvet overcoats. Here he is seen wearing a cream coloured Angrakha with golden print details and a forest green velvet ethnic coat
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Image Credits: Aimen Tamboowala
Rich colours like reds, purples, and blues were seen for joyous occasions
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
But mostly vivid colours were noticed more in Ranveer's colour palette because it was very character appropriate. Also, represented the bright colours that are a part of authentic Maharashtrian wardrobe
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Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Glimpse of the lead trio together. A great example to showcase how distinctly the costumes for each of the characters has been designed and attention to character specific details have been given.
Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
A moment of pondering on these notes, encapsulates critical facts, such as - for Deepika and Priyanka’s roles - it was their religious and geographical backgrounds that determined their clothing styles. Deepika wore a lot of Persian inspired shararas and lehengas, whereas, Priyanka was seen dressed up to the nines in traditional Maharashtrian style. But the Angrakha worn by Ranveer for his role , the number of ghera’s in it has a pivotal role to play in few of the scenes in the film - especially when he was seen heading to a warfare.
In a continued tete-tete with the designer, she shared, “Lots of gathers in the Angrakha that he wears, you know there is a scene where he throws a dagger at his brother, and his whole skirt takes a roundabout swing - so each pleating adds so much impact to the scene. Like I would say, in those days they used to jump and climb on the horse’s back, so one cannot be restricted with the fabrics. They had a particular kind of dressing for a purpose - here is where costumes play a key role in the characterization process. The ghera of the Angrakha doesn’t stop them to take that high jump. That’s where you can watch the movie again and see how those free flowing costumes help them to take that jump during warfare making them look comfortable.”
Accessorized In Jewels of Traits
A lot of people often forget how accessorizing helps in expanding the narrative elements in films. People usually take these things very lightly, as long as the heavy Indian jewellery makes the person wearing it look alluring-the audiences could not be less bothered about the characteristic reasoning behind its usage. But for a historical costume drama like Bajirao Mastani, there is the need of sticking to what was available in that era and staying true to the character sketches as well.
Mastani: A Persian Gem
Deepika’s accessories were nothing similar to that of Priyanka. In fact the only time you do spot Deepika wearing a traditional Maharashtrian Nathani-is in the song “Pinga”, where she takes part in a celebration alongside Kashibai.
Anju Modi in an interview with The Tribune, for an article named “Queen of the costumes”, written by Shashi Sunny which was published on October 2, 2015, said, “We went with the Hyderabadi Nizaam’s royal look for Mastani in keeping with her part-Muslim heritage. For the battle scenes, we created heavy chainmail battle gear and footwear made out of leather.”
The first two pictures show Deepika in her initial Mastani avatar when she is yet to understand and incorporate Maharashtrian styling. The third image is the first time she dons the traditional Nathani.
Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
Anju Modi in an interview with Vogue, for an article named “Anju Modi on ‘Bajirao Mastani’ costumes for Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh”, written by Rujuta Vaidya which was published on July 31, 2015, said, “To reflect the demure characteristics of Kashibai, a simple Maharashtrian woman and first wife of Bajirao we used a lot of traditional Marathi jewellery - the Nathani and archetypal ornaments.”
Priyanka’s characterization process was taken a notch higher with the vintage traditional pieces that the designer managed to put together.
Kashibai : Marathi Ornamentation
Kashibai’s jewelleries were specially made from a jeweller who had age old jewelleries stored in his archives that represented the Peshwa wife’s accessories worn back at that time. The maangtika, Marathi Nathani, chooras were era and character appropriate.
Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
The designer further elaborated “Priyanka's jewellery came from a place in Pune where they had an archive of all the jewelleries that their ancestors used to wear, so the head-gears is coming as a traditional attire of a Peshwa wife. She has to wear the chooras, there was a pin with the symbol of a sun and flower that she wore at the back - so there is a meaning behind all of this which is a sign of prosperity and longevity.”
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Traditional Marathi headgear for Peshwa's wife worn back in the 18th century
Image Credits: Bajirao Mastani
It is quite an eye-opener as to how such thought -provoking facets were probably missed or never prodded upon while watching the film. As an audience, we rarely have the patience to focus on such accuracies. It is quite interesting to be able to direct our attention to the various aspects of historical personalities, which are being narrated to us through costumes. But the comprehensible sensibility that a costume designer manifests, to mould the script of these period films- is what that opens the floodgates to creative brilliance. Upcoming costume designer’s or fashion enthusiasts should take a moment and soak in the incredible amount of learning that these intricate fragments of designing details lead to. There is no end to adding onto this genre of films that demands for all things majestic.
The designer concluded by saying, “It is important because these are very subtle and subconscious on the audience. Nobody knows about these things which they are watching. The audience is not bothered to know about so much-about why a red costume or why a purple costume or why a nine yards saree- but it kind of creates an aura of a 200-300 years before. Costumes is giving a visual reality to the story. It helps you to transport back in that era.”
It is all about tracing an era back to its roots through the apparels displayed. It looks all gaudy and truly mesmerizing amidst all the sheen that it is reflecting on the big screen. But, the gravity of how much it adds to the threads of description and character portrayal, transcends beyond ordinary perception.
If you want to purchase any of the costumes from the film, head to the link provided here which will lead to a special Bajirao Mastani collection launched by the costume designer herself - Anju Modi
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Find Link Below :
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