When director Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced his film Bajirao Mastani, one could assume the scale and grandeur of this project. And after the epic historical romance finally hit the screens in 2015, it was Anju Modi who mostly drew accolades for designing outfits of the lead cast, leaving a young man from Maharashtra's fringe village Bhagwan Nagar almost unnoticed. But, if it weren't for Chandrakant Sonawane's intricately created outfits donned by background dancers in the famous Pinga song and the Maratha warriors on the battlefield, the saga would have lost its true essence.

Four years later, the 36-year-old costume designer has added many feathers to his cap. After completing assignments as a secondary designer for Padmaavat and Bhoomi, and independently creating costumes for the legendary actor Madhuri Dixit in her Marathi debut film, Bucket List, Sonawane is here to stay. "Things weren't the same when I first started off. Forget becoming a fashion designer, chances of me completing elementary education even were bleak," he shares.