There is something glowing about this movie still.

It is from the movie Achhut Kanya (untouchable girl) from 1936. This was the first movie to challenge the cast system.

There is a delightful real life story surrounding this movie:

The movie stars Ashok Kumar (cast after the original hero had eloped with the producer’s wife and leading lady) and Devika Rani (the producer’s wife who decided to come back) in the lead roles.

And you think the current scandals are unbelievable…

Briyanka Desai in an overdone blouse.

I like the saree-blouse combo. The colors are pretty and coordination is pretty good.

But the design of the blouse strap and that of the saree border is not particularly dancing well to gather.

I even question the type of jewelry she is wearing. The intricate design of the necklace not only doesn’t add to the outfit, it detracts from it.

Let me show you another view of the same saree

Do you see what I mean?

The picture is pretty transparent, I have nothing to add.

Don’t understand the bangles and the sandals, but the saree looks great.

Genelia in a gorgeous blue and silver saree.

She was crowned Miss World in 1997.Diana Hayden became the third Indian to win the Miss World title after Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. Diana Hayden hosts a popular show called “Biography·on History channel.

It is not so popular these days, but loved the ovrall design concept and the placement of the motif in this saree.

Tanuja and Zeenat Aman at the launch of Bhanu Athiya’s book ‘The Art Of Costume Design’ at Taj Land’s End, Bandra

Yes, Bhanu was responsible for Mumtaz in Brahmchari and Waheed in Guide.

And this is the cover of the book. She is very well regarded and has dressed women in Bollywood for decades.

Bhanu Athaiya began her career in costume design in 1953. Over the next 56 years she built an extraordinary body of work that defined the aesthetics of costume design in Hindi cinema. Name any iconic look and Bhanu was behind it, whether it was Waheeda Rehman in Guide, Mumtaz in Brahmachari or Zeenat Aman in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. She has to her credit an amazing repertoire of 130 films and has worked with every director and producer of consequence, including Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, F.C. Mehra, Sunil Dutt, Dev Anand, Randhir Kapoor and Ashutosh Gowariker.

Here is a plot of Benney and Babloo:

Smitten by the glamor of Mumbai, two friends, Benny (Kay Kay Menon) and Babloo (Rajpal Yadav) land up in distinctly different jobs – Benny as the bellboy of a five-star hotel and Babloo as a waiter in a ladies service bar.

Benny believe his job is better than Babloo’s and makes fun of him on many occasions. Benny’s pride fades away as they both realize that even though their job may look different on the outside, they’re quite similar on the inside.

Benny witnesses several criminal activities at the hotel, from drug abuse to political fiascos while Babloo sees the human side of the ladies bar. The truth stares them in the face that five-star hotels are not so different from ladies bars

And yes, ladies service bar is a euphemism for house of illrepute.

Considering her role in the movie, the saree suits her well.

Bollywood actress and brand ambassador Kareena Kapoor today unveiled a new collection of exclusive, high end wedding jewellery from the Parineeta brand, specially introduced for The Great Indian Wedding Carnival, a month long mega-shopping festival coinciding with the marriage season and Akshaya Tritiya.

Kareena Kapoor says, “The new collection from Parineeta combines a modern look and feel with some traditional elements and is just perfect for a present day Indian bride. These are amazing designs crafted to perfection with diamonds and coloured stones, and I am sure that the consumers will really love them.”

Four musketeers and a goofy guy…

Come to think of it, the idea of saree clad women as musketeers has certain appeal…

I just don’t particularly care for this saree – individual pieces are OK; the blouse looks fine, the embroidery is great, the colors are not conflicting, but its not coming together for me. I think that the saree might even look better if one lost the embroidery on the pallu..

So many things wrong here.. first of all, why would you have a slip instead of petticoat, and that too for a sheer transparent saree? Jewelry is a misfit and lipstick is disproportionately red..

I thought the black saree she put on in 2009 at the filmfare award was odd, this one is odder..

Genelia in a Manish Malhotra’s ivory saree. Saree is non-descript and the blouse is not worth describing.

Only attractive thing in this whole picture is the beautiful smile of Ms. Genelia.

At MSN Lifestyle, they have comments on Rekha’s gold saree and I thought they were all valid and witty and right on point.

Yawn! Yes Rekha, we get it. You have bought the town of Kanchipuram, and its citizens sit day and night creating silk wonders only for you. You have also bought the town of Kolar, which is where you get your endless supply of chunky and traditional jewelry from. And you have, on your staff, a brilliant head masseuse who keeps you hair looking so thick and luscious.
We got all that about fifteen years ago. It’s time to teach us some new lessons. Like how bad you feel about clashing with the bride’s carefully worked out gold look? And why you have sindoor in your hair. Was there another wedding we don’t know about? And if yes, how do we get those pictures?

But she looks so great in these sarees, I can never get tired of looking at her in the Kanchipuram saree with chunky jewelry from Kolar. Its like.. why mess with perfection?!

What can I say? Rekha looks gorgeous. She has been wearing a lot of gold sarees lately and I think the color and the concept of gold suits her.

Actually this might be one of the few pictures I have seen of Jaya and Rekha together – they do have a lot of history behind them.

Here is a close up of her.

The images are from Gautam Rajadhyaksha’s Chehere (“faces”) Book Launch. I would love to see this book. He is a genius photographer for sure.

I have no idea as to what the story line of “Main aur Mrs. Khanna (Me and Mrs. Khanna)” was. But in the days of Savita Bhabi, I don’t have to extend my thought much farther to guess..

I do think that Kareena looks very seductive in this butterfly saree. The strapless blouse adds the extra oomph that is needed to elevate the scene.

I decided not to put this in “wordless Wednesday” section, because I was concerned that story this saree might tell would not be suitable for gentle readers of this blog… not!

I find the sarees with unexpected burst of colors on the pallu kind of intriguing and exciting. I would have preferred slightly lighter color on the base of the saree, but otherwise I don’t particularly mind the saree..

The picture is from the Boroplus Gold award and I think Shubhi Mehta looks sweet and subtle – that is another way of saying that she doesn’t look as glamorous as I would have expected her to look at he Gold awards. Saree and the blouse are not fully coordinated, me thinks, and that is detracting from the overall look.