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“We are constantly improvising, working on costumes everyday, tweaking designs. It has been a totally absorbing experience for the team,” says Sapna Mehra, business manager of designer Rajesh Pratap Singh. Bhansali too seems equally thrilled by the reception. “It’s been the most precious moment. I can’t tell you how proud I felt to be an Indian. To come to another country, take their form of art, do it my way and to get a response like this, is truly unforgettable,” said Bhansali over the phone from Paris.

In fact, following the success of the opera at the Chatelet Theatre, Padmavati is now set to travel to Italy in a month’s time and then to Brazil. Talks are also on with the Indian government, and if everything goes well, the opera will reach here later this year.

Singh, who is working on the costumes in Paris, has his task cut out for Padmavati, which comprises a mainly French cast with Marie-Nicole Lemieux from the Canadian province of Quebec playing the title role. The costumes are spectacular, with the designer having created extravagant ghagra-cholis with rich Indian embellishments. “There are over 300 members in the opera and we have created over 700 individual pieces, each made to measurement, and a total of 260 ensembles. Besides, with the amount of rehearsals going on and the actors gaining and losing weight, we have to be on our toes, reworking the ensembles to suit the needs,” laughs Mehra.

Bhansali, for his part, feels vindicated after the failure of Saawariya. “It takes a lot of courage and strength to do something that has been so unexplored, just two months after your last artistic work had been ripped apart,” he says, “Today, I feel reassured.”