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Tag Archives: ancient india
The Historical Drama – Chitralekha
A few more posts on modern interpretations of Ancient Indian Costume where the productions depart from fidelity to historical costume, either because the production follows the norms of popular Indian cinema or modern theatre. The full Bollywood treatment (i.e. vaguely accurate) … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Bollywood, Hinduism, Indian Cinema, Old Bollywood, Period Drama, Sari Blouse
Tagged ancient india, Bollywood, Chitralekha, courtesan, Magadha, Meena Kumari
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Ancient Indian Costume
The main garment was the antariya of white cotton, linen or flowered muslin, sometimes embroidered in gold and precious stones. The antariya was secured at the waist by a sash or kayabandh, often tied in a looped knot at the center front of the waist. … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Costume, Indian History, Sari, Sari Blouse
Tagged ancient india, Costume, historical costume, Indian History, sari blouse
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The Light of Asia/Prem Sanyas
mudwerks: Seeta Devi, 1925 (by pictosh) You can see an example of the breast band in The Light of Asia/Prem Sanyas. The film is about the life of Gautama Buddha with Seeta Devi playing the Buddha’s wife. There are a number of stills at memsaab’s site, … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Buddhism, Costume, Indian Cinema, Period Drama, Sari Blouse
Tagged ancient india, breast band, Buddhism, Costume, Himansu Rai, Indian History, Seeta Devi, The Light of Asia, uttariya
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Amrapali
Vyjayanthimala in the film on the life of Amrapali, the Licchavi courtesan who converted to Buddhism. Bhanu Athaiya (who also designed for Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam and later won an Oscar for Gandhi) apparently based the costumes on Buddhist frescoes, though in the frescoes (as in the statues … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Buddhism, Costume, Indian Cinema, Old Bollywood, Period Drama, Sari Blouse
Tagged 1966, Amrapali, ancient india, Buddhism, historical costume, sari blouse, Vyjayanthimala
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Conrad Rooks’ Siddhartha
Under black hair, which made to tower high on her head, he saw a very fair, very delicate, very smart face, a brightly red mouth, like a freshly cracked fig, eyebrows which were well tended and painted in a high … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Buddhism, Indian Cinema, Literature, Movies, Period Drama, Sari Blouse
Tagged 1970s, ancient india, cinema, Conrad Rooks, Hermann Hesse, sari blouse, Siddhartha, Simi Garewal
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Utsav/Mṛcchakaṭika
Your garment’s border, red and fair, Is all a-shiver in the air; Another courtesan, this time the fabulous Rekha playing Vasantasena in the film adaptation of Mṛcchakaṭika (The Little Clay Cart). The garment is in fact red in the movie and given Vasantasena’s wealth, she wears … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Indian Cinema, Period Drama, Romance, Sari Blouse
Tagged 1984, ancient india, Girish Karnad, Mṛcchakaṭika, Rekha, Sanskrit Drama, Sudraka, The Little Clay Cart, Vasantasena
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Santosh Sivan’s Asoka
Santosh Sivan’s epic film of the Mauryan King, Asoka, surprisingly sticks to a simple, subdued palette and body decoration for the princess Kaurwaki. Again not quite the choli but perhaps a sewn breast band. And the film it appears is fairly authentic in terms of plot.
Posted in Ancient India, India, Indian Cinema, Indian History, Period Drama, Romance, Sari Blouse
Tagged ancient india, Asoka, Costume, Indian History, Kareena Kapoor, Maurya, Santosh Sivan, sari blouse, Shahrukh Khan
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The Mythology Post
Though I have posted a lot on blouse “borrowings” from the West, one thing that differentiates the Indian version is that the midriff is normally exposed. There is a long history to the choli/kanchuki and modern representations of historical attire often … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient India, Comics, Vintage Blouse
Tagged Amar Chitra Katha, ancient india, blouse, devayani, mahabharata, saree
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