Kolkata, March 21 (IANS): To add authenticity to her look for the forthcoming period drama "Begum Jaan", National Award winning actress Vidya Balan donned unironed outfits, says designer Rick Roy.

The film sees Vidya play a brothel owner in a story of survival set against the backdrop of the country's Partition in 1947. It is a Hindi adaptation of National Award winner Srijit Mukherji's critically-acclaimed Bengali outing "Rajkahini".

"Vidya had 40 changes (outfits) for the film. None of the clothes she wore were ironed. It was her idea to dip wash the clothes and skip the ironing part. This ensured her clothes looked worn and added to the authenticity. Nobody's clothes were ironed in the film," Roy told IANS.

Vidya's outfits have distinct earthy shades.

"They were dyed in vegetable dyes, so that gives that muted, earthy shade. We also used a lot of Phulkari for her outfits," Roy said, adding the rest of the cast had different styles.

Roy, who has worked with Sonam Kapoor in a song for "Players" and Malaika Arora in "Housefull 2", said "Begum Jaan" is very different from what he has done so far.

But his sartorial experiments were made easy by the fact that the director gave the designer a "free hand".

"Srijit gave us a free hand. He was very particular that the clothes looked worn out and were aligned with the particular period. Due to the heat and dust of the Jharkhand shoot, the clothes used to get dirty. Srijit used to get irritated if the clothes were clean because he wanted the real effect," Roy said.