From Nandi to Naruto: How India’s cosplayers craft their grand costumes

Bengalurean techie Mayur Wagh in his award-winning costume, Nandi
Bengalurean techie Mayur Wagh in his award-winning costume, Nandi

Summary

As Comic Con season begins, Lounge meets cosplayers and goes behind the scenes to understand the art of making a costume

Growing up, Saurabh Singh Rawat had one big dream: to become a cartoon. “I loved watching (anime) cartoons like Dragon Ball and Pokémon... I wanted to become a cartoon like the ones in these shows," recalls Mumbai-based Rawat, 31. His seemingly implausible dream came true about a decade ago when he attended the 2014 Mumbai Comic Con. “That was the first time I saw cosplayers and realised that I could actually become my favourite cartoon by making my own costume," laughs Rawat, an art director and founder of craft studio, Metalbenders Studio. In 2015, he attended the Mumbai Comic Con dressed up as Sasuke, a grey character from popular Japanese anime and manga series, Naruto.

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Today, Rawat is one of the most recognizable cosplayers in the country with awards in his kitty. At the Indian Championship of Cosplay (ICC) 2024, he was the overall winner for cosplaying as Illidan Stormrage, an antagonistic character from the World of Warcraft video game. Then there’s Bengalurean Rohit Kailashiya, 34, who quit his medical studies over a decade ago just to pursue a full-time career in cosplaying, learning everything on his own. Introduced to cosplaying in 2012 at the Bangalore Comic Con, Kailashiya has no regrets about switching careers. “I won my first international prize in 2019 at the Dota 2 International Cosplay Contest in Shanghai, China where I dressed up as Treant Protector, a character from the Dota 2 game. In 2022, I took part in the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in Japan and won the award in the armour category," he says.

A portmanteau of “costume play", cosplay is like a grand adult version of a fancy dress competition. And while awards, fan following, recognition and monetary perks (most competitions carry cash prizes) may seem like obvious reasons to pursue cosplaying, for seasoned players like Rawat and Kailashiya, the thrill lies in the boundless creativity the job offers. 

Rohit Kailashiya as Treant Protector, a character from the Dota 2 game
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Rohit Kailashiya as Treant Protector, a character from the Dota 2 game (Instagram.com/redemptionprops)

First off, there’s an entire world of characters you can choose from to portray. Anime and video games tend to be the most common inspiration sources. For Kailashiya, it’s the DIY aspect of the craft that makes it most enjoyable. “You have to literally get your hands dirty," he jokes before sharing how cosplaying has entailed putting his early science knowledge into practice.

“You are constantly researching material because it’s important to know what material—be it fabric, leather or papier mache—would work well for a particular character, and how it would react with chemicals, glue or paints. And the job requires you to be almost as precise as a surgeon while cutting the material into different shapes," he says.

For 34-year old Mayur Wagh, a big data engineer in Infosys, Bengaluru, creating a costume from scratch is a dopamine hit. While EVA foam and epoxy resin are materials he uses to cast props, he uses faux leather, curtain fabric and even dupattas for the clothes. He’s also learnt to sew. “As a cosplayer, you need to have a good idea of the various stitching techniques because you are working with materials that are tough." Wagh won the Fan Favourite Award at ICC 2024 for Nandi, a character he created inspired by Indian mythology, with horns, armour, hooves, and two weapons. “It took me around three-four months to create it," he says. Staying true to his engineering background, Wagh used a mix of Generative AI and 3D scanning and printing to create the armour and weapons.

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Saurabh Singh Rawat cosplaying as Illidan Stormrage from the World of Warcraft video game.
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Saurabh Singh Rawat cosplaying as Illidan Stormrage from the World of Warcraft video game. (Instagram.com/metalbenderstudio)

Dig more into the creation process and you see that cosplaying is a combination of inventiveness and being painstakingly detailed. Rawat talks about the mood board he creates before starting a new project. “About 20-30% of my initial work goes into making a detailed mood board. I do a meticulous breakdown of every part of the look, from the wig or faux fur I need to use for the character’s hair to the swatches of fabric for the clothes, and the texture of props," says Rawat, who cosplayed as Jayce Talis, a character from the video game/Netflix animation series, Arcane, at the recent Bangalore Comic Con. Kailashiya makes a digital mood board that’s helpful while rendering 3D print models of elements like a mask, nails, or armour.

Unlike the West, the quality of cosplay materials available in India is not great. “You have to do jugaad" is a common refrain of the community. A lot of the raw material is bought from local markets as it’s economical. In Mumbai, Rawat visits the wholesale market in Thakkar Bappa Colony in Kurla or Crawford Market to stock up on EVA foam and fabrics, respectively. In Bengaluru, Wagh hits Commercial Street for faux leather and fabrics and GK Udyog store in Double Road for wholesale EVA foam. How expensive do these purchases tend to get? It really depends on how complicated the costume is, says Kailashiya. “A simple costume minus props can cost 1,000 or 5,000, while an elaborate one can leave you lighter by 50,000 for materials. Factor in labour cost and it could go up to a lakh."

Bengaluru-based architect Ankita Kemkar cosplaying as Kitana from the Mortal Combat video game
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Bengaluru-based architect Ankita Kemkar cosplaying as Kitana from the Mortal Combat video game (Instagram.com/ankitakemkar)

SPREADING WINGS

Besides its pop-culture coolness, cosplaying is attracting more youngsters for the opportunities it opens up. Ankita Kemkar, a Bengaluru-based architect, is known in the Indian cosplaying community for playing Jett, a character from video game Valorant. Interestingly, this character helped Kemkar snag an appearance in Lobby Talk, the official anthem commissioned by Riot Games, the makers of Valorant, for the Indian audience. The song that’s streaming on YouTube features vocals by Arjun Kanungo and Ocean Sharma. More recently, Kemkar was invited by Amazon Prime Video India for the promotion of popular web series, The Boys. Kemkar cosplayed as Starlight, a character from the series. “It’s interesting how my cosplay career has expanded into all these avenues," she says.

Rawat’s expertise in making “special effects costumes" has earned him clients in personalities like Uorfi Javed. “The costumes you have seen her in, such as the Flying Butterfly dress or the Dragon dress, have been made by me and my team," says Rawat. Aided by a core team of four, Rawat receives around three-four orders every month for making mascots, Pokemon toys or special costumes. As a relatively new venture, the average earnings, he says, is around 5 lakh per month. 

They may sport facades of superheroes, villains or other-worldly creatures but ultimately, being a cosplayer boils down to one thing: holding a “superpower" in your hands to craft your own identity.

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