Pia Benegal, the costume designer for Samvidhaan, a 10-part television series directed by her father Shyam Benegal, says creating the “period specific” outfits for the production has been a painstaking process.
The TV series revolves around the creation of India’s constitution and features costumes such as dhotis, kurtas, waistcoats, sherwanis, double breasted suits, long coats, saris and a variety of headwear for the show.
Benegal said: “I was asked to work on Samvidhaan as the costume designer and recreate costumes for each character as realistically as possible. My tailors worked tirelessly on this project.
“Looking for specific accessories was a painstaking yet exciting exercise. Gradually, I saw all my characters come alive. Each one of them began to look more and more like the original people whom we know as the members of our Constituent Assembly,” said the designer.
Benegal’s first film assignment as a costume designer was Antarnaad, which took her to the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi, where she studied and did a diploma in fashion design. Soon, projects like Mammo, Sardari Begum, Making of the Mahatma and Zubeidaa followed.
