Authentic prison touch for Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail

Those at the helm of affairs in prisons may have their views on the 'realism' of Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail, which was released on Friday. But none can deny that the clothes worn by the characters in the film are authentic. That is because all the prison costumes carry the 'Made in Yerwada' tag.

In April, authorities at the Yerwada central jail received a request from Bhandarkar Entertainment for tailormade clothes. On April 12 —- just three days later —- over 200 costumes worth Rs50,000 were supplied by the prison. The items included uniforms of superintendents, convicts, undertrials, wardens, night watchmen, warders, cooks and guards.

All the costumes, except for the uniforms of jailers, were stitched using cloth made by Yerwada prison's own textile industry. "The authenticity, detailing, and work would not have come through with any other designer, no matter how much money I paid," Bhandarkar said. "All my actors loved the clothes and felt 'in character'."

Deputy inspector-general of police (prisons) Ravindra Kedari told DNA, that 150 inmates, including women, stitch nearly 5,000 clothes daily for various jails in the state.

"We have a textile mill in the prison which manufactures cloth, khadi and pure cotton," he said. "We usually have the stock of clothes ready and no extra efforts were needed to meet the demand of the film production house."

Kedari said the jail's only condition was that the costumes should be returned later to avoid misuse. "The production house has agreed to do this without claiming back the fees," he said.

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