The various technical aspects that goes into making a film are often overlooked. But behind the layers of the film, lies the story of multitude of efforts that goes into research to create era appropriate costumes and developing them with the right fabric. While making the costumes for Kantara: Chapter 1, Pragathi Shetty had to spend months on research.

In an interview with CE, Pragathi says that there were no direct references to take for the film. "We spent more than six months on research. We had to look at paintings, sculptures, dance forms, jewellery traditions, even hair accessories," says the costume designer. Nevertheless, the urge to be original still remained. "I always told myself, if anyone looks at our costumes years later, these should become the reference point," shared Pragathi talking about design.

If time spent on research was staggering, then the logistics was a mammoth operation. More than a 1000 costumes were created for different geographies of the world of Kantara: Chapter 1, with materials from Rajasthan and Bengal shipped in for the film. "Everything had to be customised. Every stitch, every drape, had to have my final approval. We had an in-house team, but also outsourced when needed. Whether it was the leads or junior artistes, everyone’s costume passed through my table," said Pragathi, highlighting the amount of precision that had to be undertaken for the costumes.

Rishab Shetty's Kantara: Chapter 1 was released on October 2 and has went on to gross Rs 700 crores in its lifetime collection.