Whoever read the news piece ended up with a sweet smile on their face. Janhvi Kapoor, daughter of late Sridevi, attended the 65th National Film Awards in Delhi to collect her late mother's Best Actress National Award for her role in MOM. And for the occasion, she wore one of her mother's kanjeevaram saree. Accompanied by her father Boney Kapoor and sister Khushi, Janhvi in that rich pink and white saree could have passed off as Sridevi. First to let us know of the gesture was Designer Manish Malhotra, who posted this on Instagram.
As social media was kind enough to research and let us know later, the saree was originally worn by Sridevi at actor Ram Charan's wedding in 2013.
It is nothing new if you think about it - nowadays people get tattoos of their parent's names but once in a while you will find a dapper man wearing a vintage watch, and when asked he will tell you it belonged to his grandfather. Or you see a girl wearing a bracelet that belonged to a late aunt.
But there is a special something between a woman and her mother's collection of sarees.
I have heard my own mother talk about how her mother had a whole closet of neatly folded sarees that were wrapped in butter paper and precious delicate cloth bags. It was a dream for her to one day wear one these out in the open, and not in secret in her mother's boudoir as a child (who will then be caught and tickled for being precocious enough to wear lipstick to go with the attire).
Obviously there is the whole idolization bit, the being enamored by the beauty of all the fabric matched with gold jewels and red bindi. I would imagine that as little girls they would all want to grow up just so they too can wear all these fineries. But then it doesn't stop there, they would hope they end up looking as beautiful as their mothers did all that time they watched them get ready from the doorway of the parlor, seated in front of long mirrors.
Funnily enough, even my sister with her dresses and tops and gowns have a reverence for mother's sarees. As I see with other female friends. No matter how influenced these girls are with western fashion, this bond they share with their mothers' sarees eludes the law of what's fashionable that time. But when it comes to sarees, the old world charm is back in vogue; vintage is loved and sarees are the in-thing.
And even if they weren't it won't make a difference I feel. Clearly this isn't all about the sarees. Maybe it is nothing but just holding onto something very personal of the woman who they will love all their lives, in form of a symbol of womanhood, a talisman or simply a gift.
