Nawazuddin Siddiqui had a tall order at hand when he stepped into the shoes of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for the Sanjay Raut-directed biopic, Thackeray. However, it won't be wrong to say that costume designer Santosh Gavde, along with the makeup artiste, made matters slightly easier for the actor — it is to the stylist's credit that Siddiqui bears a striking resemblance to the charismatic leader in the film. Gavde tells mid-day that the Thackeray family shared rare pictures of the patriarch that he used as references.

"The family and Raut sir helped us source rare pictures and videos of him from the '60s and '70s. The original glasses and glares that Balasaheb used were made available to us, to replicate. In fact, we tapped into Balasaheb's personal collection, so we knew exactly what we had to recreate. Most of Nawaz sir's outfits were stitched [after studying Thackeray's wardrobe]," says Gavde, adding, "We knew that the family has entrusted us with a big job, and we couldn't afford to go wrong."