Shah says he explored and recreated textiles to weave Savitri’s journey from her childhood to her passing away

The costumes of Mahanati, a biopic on legendary actor Savitri, took 100 artisans and over a year to make, says designer Gaurang Shah who is making his debut as a costume designer with the project.

Shah delved into the past of Savitri, played by actor Keerthy Suresh in the film, interacting with people and industry folks for months for his research.

It took Shah more than six months of research and over a year for weaving, texturing and colouring to get the look right. “The shooting of the movie went on for one year, and the weaving process was uninterrupted. The whole progression took more than a year and a half from the inception of the costumes to the conclusion of the last shoot,” the designer told IANS in an e-mail.

Handcrafted costumes

Shah explored and recreated textiles to weave Savitri’s journey from her childhood to her passing away. “From mangalgiris and kotas with prints for her growing days, to heavy brocades, silks, organzas, handwoven sateens and chiffons for her golden era to subtle rendition for her later life, my team travelled extensively to museums and recreated the textiles of that time. Each and every detail of the textile, design, texture and colour were studied and artisans were guided to recreate it,” said the designer.

Actor Keerthy Suresh in an image from ‘Mahanati’. Photo courtesy: Twitter/@MahanatiTheFilm

Tremendous research went behind every costume that Savitri’s character will be wearing in the film, Shah said. “We sourced heavy silk fabrics from different parts of India like Kanchipuram and Benares, which were enhanced with kota, mangalgiri and block prints that were then handcrafted in our looms by a dedicated team of more than 100 local artisans.

“While we used tones that carry a lot of radiance and associated with feminine character (sic), we also had to balance it with traditional at-that-era of colours, since Savitri outfits were all about simplicity, grandeur,” said the designer.

Trilingual

Written and directed by Nag Ashwin, Mahanati is based on the life of actor Savitri who appeared mainly in Telugu and Tamil language films but also worked in Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi language films. She was also the recipient of the Rashtrapati Award and was honoured at the International Film Festival of India.

Mahanati was filmed simultaneously in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam languages and also stars Dulquer Salmaan and Samantha Akkineni in the lead roles.

Presented by Vyjayanthi Movies and produced by Priyanka Dutt of Swapna Cinema, the trilingual film is slated for release on May 9 across Indian and global theatres.