Recreating Bengaluru of the 70s–80s for KD: The Devil meant building an entire underworld from scratch. Director Prem wanted the period to feel lived-in, not just designed for the screen. The technical team of the film, including art director Mohan B Kere, music composer Arjun Janya, and cinematographer William David, relied heavily on ground-level detailing of costumes, vehicles, hair and makeup, and street textures, all of which had to match the timeline precisely.

“Prem gave us references right at the start. He asked us to watch films from that period across languages. We locked the timeline from the 1970s into the 1980s and built the look accordingly,” says costume designer Devraj Sulok, adding, "Hair, fabric, cuts, everything shifts with the years. That continuity mattered.”

For Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty, the styling process went through multiple rounds. “They’ve played roles in similar eras before, and the challenge was to avoid repetition. Prem wanted Sanjay Dutt in a dhoti-based look, which was something he hadn’t done earlier. Shilpa’s look took several trials before it was locked,” he says.

The costume department alone worked with 10–25 variations per character. Devraj adds, “We created nearly 500 costume combinations in total. Even 700 junior artistes had individual styling, down to hair and sidelocks. Everyone had to be ready by 6.30 am for the first shot.”

Vehicles became one of the toughest parts of the recreation. “We couldn’t source a proper double-decker bus anywhere in India, so we custom-built it from scratch, including period-correct seating,” says Bharath Lingesh, who was joined by Lokesh DP in overseeing the sets. “We also used over 40 retro bikes and 35 vintage cars. Some bikes, including Sanjay Dutt’s, were modified, which added to the cost and effort,” he adds.

A convoy of vintage machines moved through sets packed with over 1,000 junior artistes. The coordination between traffic, stunts, and camera setups brought both risk and realism, with cinematography carefully tuned to match the muted tones of the era.