For very many reasons Bollywood is Indian cinema. Now and then regional cinema makes a splash – especially at the National Awards – but for the most part the audiences are local. You could however argue that all the interesting stuff happens in regional cinema, this was true even back in the day (I really miss the Sunday afternoon hour on DD2 which was regional cinema time). So here’s a little sampler – ideally I would have preferred to feature something other than a Tamil film from the South but here we go. 
Kumki (Tamil) and its heroine, Lakshmi Menon, are absolutely beautiful to look at. And I am a sucker for that weed flower jewellery. In the pics: goat weed ring and aster weed earrings. Captures from Onnum Puriyala, Kumki.
Postcard (Marathi) seems an interesting film but I can’t find very much on it and am completely uncertain about the decade it is set in. Note that the trailer seems to indicate a 1960s postmark. But the puff sleeves – and Radhika Apte seems to basically wear just these blouses outside of her dance costume – evokes the late 30s/40s.
Leipaklei (Manipur) is from the director of Imagi Ningthem. The first is based on a play, the latter is based on a novel. The innaphi (wrapper) of Manipuri dress is usually diaphanous. Here the wrap is more like a chador or shawl. I am probably biased because I love the Manipuri aesthetic but I love the muted colours here, especially the off white, checked innaphi. Stills from [X, X, X].
Vintage Indian Clothing 
