An enormous amount of work has gone behind the making of the costumes of Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. Designer Neeta Lulla was given the task of creating ensembles for some of the cast members including Kangana Ranaut, who portrayed the titular role, Ankita Lokhande (Jhalkari Bai), Jisshu Sengupta (Raja Gangadhar Rao) and Danny Denzongpa (Ghulam Ghaus Khan).
Lulla, who has earlier won the National Award for Costume Design for historical dramas like Devdas and Jodha Akbar, gave us a glimpse of the process with videos and sketches on Instagram.
Describing the bridal jewellery of Manikarnika, she wrote, “Decoding the bridal jewellery that took two days to put into structure of design and visit frequently to interact with the team of designers, we did a lot of research together, we went back to their archives and had deep discussions about the look and setting especially for the wedding sequence for Kangana.
A special head ornament (Mundavalya) with pearls was created for Kangana’s wedding look, which is considered the most auspicious jewellery in Maharashtrian weddings.
Also lot of layering is done, be it with the set of head ornaments or multiple neckpieces to pull the look together.”
Lulla also gave us a sneak peek into the “Final illustration process to bring characterisation to reel life ..a process that gives shape to the perception and thought of ‘what it should look like’”.
We think the Manikarnika costumes are gorgeous. What about you?
