For the jewellery, Meera turned to Jaipur-based jewellery brand Amrapali for the elaborate neckpieces, maang teekas, jhoomars, chandelier earrings, haath phools and bangles.

Shoemakers were hired to handcraft era-appropriate footwear. While some of the woollen fabric for Ameer’s coats was woven in Kotwara, antique brocades were sourced for Noor’s ghararas and dupattas. “We have a large number of embroiderers and tailors in the Kotwara region and almost all of them were co-opted into making the costumes,” says Meera. When it came to craftsmanship, local talent came in handy. Victorian dressing had its impact on the Indian gentry and courtesans experimented with the dress, hair styling and shoes,” says Meera of the look of the nearly 500 costumes created for the film. “With the British firmly entrenched in Awadh soil, there were many exchanges of ideas, thought and blending of cultures, which included language, music, dance and style of dressing. Hints of Victorian styling have been worked into the Indian milieu. The transformation of foreign-educated Prince Ameer, played by Imran Abbas Naqvi from Pakistan, is charted through his wardrobe. The flow of the dupattas was also important, how they covered the head and at the same time were sheer enough,” says Meera. Noor, the 19th century courtesan of Jaanisaar - played by fashion stylist and entrepreneur Pernia Qureshi - is dressed in peshwaz that not only conform to style of the era, but care was taken to get the fit just right “so that when she pirouettes it looks sensuous and seductive as a courtesan should look. We designed peshwaz with waistcoats and moved from the churidaar to chaura (wide) pajama as part of the dancing dress and from the angarkha to the dagla for men,” says Meera. We researched the Victorian era and the style and dressing of Awadh royalty of the time. “Since this is set 20 years in time after Umrao Jaan, I could play with the Victorian influences, especially in the men’s costumes. Meera and her team of eight designers researched the period, fabrics, embroideries and laces in great depth.

Umrao jaan 1981 ram dai