EXCL: Nachiket Barve 'ecstatic' to win Best Costume Designer National Award for Ajay Devgn's Tanhaji

Firsts are always special. Your first car, first job, first kiss… this especially holds significance for Nachiket Barve, who has bagged his first National Film Award for his first Bollywood project – Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. The fashion and costume designer has been named the winner in the Best Costume category at the 68th National Film Awards, along with Mahesh Sherla.

In an exclusive chat with Times Now Digital, Nachiket revealed that he was caught by surprise by the announcement because he was not aware that the list of winners will be announced today. Nonetheless, Nachiket expressed his present state of mind with words like “ecstatic”, “happy” and “wonderful”.

Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior is a period film that was released on January 10, 2020, and revolved around 17th century Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare and his conflict with Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s trusted guard Udaybhan Singh Rathore. While Ajay Devgn played Tanaji in the film, the character of Udaybhan was essayed by Saif Ali Khan.

Nachiket revealed that since this was a film based on historical characters, the entire effort was to approach the costumes in a way that the audience is drawn into that world with honesty and authenticity rather than trying to make it look costume-y.

“The other idea was to try and revive as many crafts as possible through this process. We actually sat down with jewellers, whose families have been in this business from the era of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj… a lot of research and development went into the film,” he says.

Nachiket also revealed that it was challenging to work on this film because he and his team had to be extra careful. “When you are dealing with characters who belong to history then there is added responsibility. I'm glad that the jury lauded this effort and brought recognition to it,” he stressed.

Nachiket, who is currently working on the costumes of three films – Prabhas’ Adipurush, a Marathi film titled Har Har Mahadev, and a slice-of-life movie – also thanked Tanhaji’s director Om Raut for his vision and the cast of the film. “I'm so happy that Ajay Devgn has also bagged the Best Actor award. It was such an honour to work with people with so much experience and talent whether it was Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Kajol or Sharad Kelkar.”