The Tension Between Historical Accuracy, Authenticity and Creative License in Historical Cinema Costume Design: A Study Based on the Costume Design Experience of the Film Maharaja Gemunu

The costume design process of historical cinema production encounters a continuous dialogue on achieving the correct balance between historical accuracy, authenticity, and creative license. This research aims to analyze the friction among historical accuracy, authenticity, and creative license in the costume design process of the Maharaja Gemunu cinematic creation. Interviews, self-reflexive writings, production documents, visual sources, and production plans were used to collect data. The researcher, being the principal costume designer, interpretatively investigated his lived experiences, their meanings, challenges, and contextual dynamics of self and the costume design team during the meaning-making stage of the costume design process. Internal conflicts, limitations of decision-making, creative adaptations, and feelings that occurred during the creative process were analyzed through the self-reflexive methodology. The research approach was qualitative, following an interpretative case study method based on the philosophical foundation of Max Van Manen’s phenomenological approach. The study revealed that the costume design process was a creative interpretation rather than a historical reconstruction due to the lack of direct archaeological and visual evidence in the Anuradhapura Era. The design process was found to be a creative interpretation due to the current gaps in knowledge, raw materials, technology, and skills compared to the Anuradhapura era. It was concluded that the costume design process was an effort to build consensus among historical facts, cinematic requirements, technical and financial constraints, popular cultural beliefs, and memories. Based on the study findings, it can be argued that costume design is a dynamic and adaptive process that negotiates among historical accuracy, historical authenticity, and creative expression.