Ketan Mehta’s outings in period films, so far, haven’t been very successful (Note: Mangal Pandey: The Rising). “The scales are vastly different here,” argues Mehta, in defence of Rang Rasiya which was screened at the London Film Festival and which he is currently promoting at the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

The long-in-the-making, much-talked-about movie about the 19th century painter-prince Raja Ravi Varma will finally release in India in January.

Varma’s paintings, peopled by gods, sari-clad celestial beings and ordinary women, catapulted him to fame in his lifetime, yet little remains known of the artist whose works are now displayed on calendars and listed as national treasures.

Putting together a celluloid biography of the man who never even kept a journal was a tough task, says Mehta. He scanned historical texts and pictorial records from Kerala. “Marathi writer Ranjit Desai’s book Raja Ravi Varma provided some insight into his life but little about his philosophy,” says Mehta.

“Even as a student at the FTII in Pune, I was fascinated by how he influenced the father of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke.”

Randeep Hooda, who impressed with his brooding intensity in the forgettable Ram Gopal Varma film D, leaves the gun for the brush — and another Varma. Hooda plays Ravi Varma — from his struggling days in Kerala to his eventual success at a Vienna exhibition.

The 32-year-old Haryana actor got rid of his trademark stubble, learnt to drape a dhoti convincingly and even took some painting lessons. “I read up on Ravi Varma but those were just a few sugarcoated articles,” says Hooda.

“Mostly, I gave the role my own interpretation, with some guidance from Ketan.”

Ravi Varma was particular about his women’s costumes and jewellery. In Rang Rasiya too, they play a role. The task of coming up with 19th century clothes went to designer Niharika Khan. “It was like putting my head in a spin,” smiles Khan, who’s had some experience in vintage styling with Khoya Khoya Chand. Khan worked for seven months on Rang Rasiya’s costumes before she drew the final sketches. “I had to depict a crossover between northern and southern cultures. I created the clothes from scratch, making dhotis and suits with pearl buttons rather than plastic ones,” says Khan, whose job was made easier because of Hooda’s toned physique.

Wonder if the Malayali artist could boast such sinews, but Hooda says he made Varma charming and devious, and a radical artist. “His art reached out to the masses. We all could learn from him,” says Hooda. Now we’re looking if his movie can do what Varma’s art did.