Nachiket Barve brings Aani Kashinath Ghanekar to life

Nachiket Barve

"Fashion, at its core, is transient, and fashion shows are consumed by a few. Cinema is not bound by demographics or language. It's a great way to connect with a wider audience," says designer Nachiket Barve, who has quietly spent the last two years designing costumes for Aani Kashinath Ghanekar (AKG), a biopic on the first superstar of Marathi films and theatre.

"The greatest challenge was to take the fashion designer out of the narrative, and work towards creating costumes that were period appropriate. I had to keep in mind that Ghanekar was a huge post-Independence star. There was no rich, flamboyant ethos to make things easier for me," says Barve about the film that is directed by Abhijeet Deshpande and scheduled to release in November. Barve has created the look for the entire cast, including Subodh Bhave, Sonali Kulkarni and Sumeet Raghavan.

Aani Kashinath Ghanekar director Abhijeet Deshpande

A dental surgeon by education and actor by passion, Ghanekar began his career in the 1960s with an impressive role as Sambhaji in the play, Raigadhala Jevha Jaag Yete, while Madhuchandra made him a mega film star. Research for the biopic began with flipping through archival images and watching YouTube videos. Barve also travelled to the old bastions of Maharashtra, including Pune and Sangli to source appropriate fabrics. "Polyester was a popular choice for theatre costumes back then, and sarees like Panchvari and Nauvari have been used to maintain the authenticity of the drama."

This is not Barve's first brush with costume design. He has previously worked on Vazandar, and Katyar Kaljat Ghusli, a musical. He tells this diarist that he has also been signed to design the costumes for Ajay Devgn's historic drama, Tanaji. "I don't think regionally, even if AKG would have been made in any other language, the costumes would just stay the same. That's the magic of cinema."

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