News18 was the first to contact and congratulate costume designer Veera Kapur EE, who won Best Costume Designer for the feature film Sardar Udham at the 69th National Film Awards 2023.
While she was processing the fact that she won her first National Award, Veera was all smiles when she spoke exclusively to News18. “I have just found out 3 mins ago and I am a little bit in shock. I wasn’t expecting this [award]. This [National Award] is the best thing I could have ever dreamt of. I haven’t got the chance to let it sink in.”
Sardar Udham, directed by Shoojit Sircar has been Veera’s mentor for the last 20 years. Veera went down memory lane and reminisced about the time when Shoojit mentioned to her about wanting to make a film on Sardar Udham and how he wanted her to be a part of the film. “When asked what made this film special.
She says, “I have been working with Shoojit Sircar, who is my guru, my mentor, for the last 20 years. And I remember him telling me about 16 to 18 years ago that he wanted to make Sardar Uddham. It has been a long wait, and he told me to ‘better learn everything, and you are going to do the costumes one day for it’. And he actually gave me that opportunity and I am eternally grateful,” shares Veera.
Though she still can’t believe she won the award, during the conversation Veera makes it a point to credit her team and Rakhi Menon who is her chief costume assistant for being by her side and working equally hard. As a successful costume designer, who has worked on films such as Pink, Qala among others, Veera truly believes that it takes a village to make a film. And she is glad that all the hard work she and her team have put into it has finally been appreciated and rewarded.
“You spend so many years working and putting in a lot of hard work. It [Winning the National Award] is a dream come true and a great feeling to be appreciated for the work you do. It is a complete team effort. Shoojit Sircar is the one who always trusted me and to give me a film of this scale, to convey the message that he wanted to make for so many years. All thanks to him,” adds Veera.
Having designed over 1000 costumes for Sardar Udham, was the film challenging? Veera shares, “We did a lot of research. The only challenging part was getting the right kind of textures and fabrics to depict a period in time. We did face challenges in sourcing the right fabric for the British police costumes.”
Speaking about her experience of working with Vicky Kaushal who played the character Sardar Udham, Veera says, “Vicky is one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever had the good fortune of working with. He completely surrenders to the character. He will never crib about the costumes. He just gets into the character. He became Sardar Uddham, he felt it…and I think that’s what makes the film so beautiful. To understand the emotion and portray that so beautifully.”
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