My film sets are as important as my characters: Bhansali

A still from the sets of Ram Leela

In his trademark style, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has created the most opulent sets of his career so far for 'Ram-Leela'. Shot in Udaipur (Rajasthan), Gujarat and Film City (Mumbai), the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer promises breath-taking visuals. 

Art director Wasiq Khan, who has previously worked with the filmmaker on 'Rowdy Rathore', has teamed up with him for the second time. Bhansali and Khan travelled to remote areas of the country, to study our diverse culture and incorporated this into the creation of the sets. Every single set was created after making a hundred different sketches. 

Considering the magnitude of the sets, the romantic drama couldn't be shot anywhere but the expansive grounds in Film City. Apart from a couple of schedules in Gujarat and Rajasthan, most of the film has been shot in the Mumbai studio over 10 months. 

Be it lighting a thousand candles for a special Priyanka Chopra song, covering the entire set to achieve a certain lighting or using hand-painted cloth as background — every aspect was looked into minutely. And the look of the set changed from rustic to classic, reflecting the mood of the scene. Says Khan, "Sanjay's brief to me was to imbibe realism and yet make things look stylised. Though this film is very different from his other movies so far, you will still see his signature elements in every frame." 

Not surprising then, that several Bollywood biggies including Shah Rukh Khan dropped by. The actor heard about its grandeur and paid the director a compliment. 

On his part, Bhansali maintains, "Architecture and spaces fascinate me, so my film sets are as important as my characters in the story. Art direction needs to complement and enhance storytelling. In Ram-Leela, I wanted to capture the vibrancy and the richness of culture and architecture of Gujarat. Our production designer Wasiq has translated my vision brilliantly and I hope audiences will appreciate the effort." 

Set in present-day Gujarat and woven with song and dance, the story takes audiences through love in turbulent times, where worlds collide, wars are fought and destinies are written in blood. 

'Ram-Leela', produced by Eros International and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, releases November 15
.