A Bollywood Break

NOTE:

This post was meant to be published a few weeks ago. The dress is currently being hemmed, trimmed, and the sleeves finished. That said, the progress is slow, and with only a week until it needs to be worn and finished, any further posts before the presentation are highly unlikely.
However, we will post as soon as the presentation s finished, so stay tuned!

Now, for you're enjoyment, we bring you a Bollywood Break!

A Bollywood Break

Sometimes, I really am lacking the steam to finish a project.... Like, really just bleh about it.

It happens to every costumer. Projects are frustrating, even when you have a pattern and are following it exactly and have all the extra fabric you could ever need.

So when you're on a very tight deadline, making your own patterns from vague photos or  descriptions lacking photographic evidence of said desription, trying to figure out if they're historically "true" once you've modified them to fit your needs or just modern guess work, well, it just adds to the frustration and desire to walk-away aspect.

I'm taking a risk with this angrakha.

Few women would have worn them in this manner. And contrary to British propaganda, no prostitute, and not every nautch girl was a tawaif, So only a handful of women wore these dresses. Which, if you have a basic concept of survival rate of garments, you know means that there's almost NO extant examples. Definitely none that I can find.... Not even a peshwas (which is also described as a dancer's dress)!

I know that the modern kathak angrakha theoretically hasn't changed much since the Nawab era, but because I have to work off of pictures of antique men's angrakhas and modern women's kathak angrakhas, for all I know I could be making a Gone With The Wind type of "historical dress", but I'm hoping kathak hasn't lead me too astray.

So there's that, but right now, all I want to do is sit back and watch some pretty videos. So in order to try and keep me inspired on the lines of "19th century Tawaif", I've decided to share a few of my favorites.


"Dil Cheez Kya Hai" from Umrao Jaan 1981, Starring Rekha:

Umrao Jaan is the story of a Tawaif's love and heart break during the fall of the Nawabs and complete conquest of the British Raj. In this version (the second film version produced) Rekha plays the beautiful and infamous Umrao Jaan.
I love Rekha, and I love that she's a trained kathak dancer. These things, plus excellent production quality, and a genuine attempt to stay true to the original story line of the novel make this Umrao Jaan my absolute favorite.


"Maar Dala" from Devdas 2002, Starring Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, and Shahrukh Khan:

Madhuri is another Bollywood actress classically trained in kathak. I envy her grace AND her beautiful aging! Sheesh, she hardly looks like she's aged a day since this film came out a decade ago. She too plays a Tawaif in this recreation of a 1935 Bollywood oldie. While Devdas itself is more focused on the story of the love of Devdas and Paro, and the fact that they can never be together because Paro's family is descended from a line of mudra dancers (Though Paro and her mother aren't practicing mujra artists), Madhuri's character Chandramukhi is vital in the story line.


"Na Janne Kis Liye" from Umrao Jan Ada, 1972 Starring Rani

This Pakistani filmed (technically Lollywood, not Bollywood) Umrao Jan Ada is more "inspired" by the book that bears the same title than it's based on it.  I love Rani in this song, her character's so innocent and heartbroken despite her profession. The quality isn't so good, but, it's still a good watch.


"Aaj Hum Apne Duan Ka Asar" from Pakeezah, 1972 Starring Meena Kumari

This comes from the same movie our inspiration gown. In it's final climactic scene before the big plot twist is revealed. Incidentally, the weariness and fatigue written over Meena Kumari's face is not just her portrayal of Sahibjaan, the courtesan with the heart of gold, but also due to her battle with alcoholism and her cirrhosis of the liver which would take her life the year the film was released.

"Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" from Mughal e Azam, 1960 Starring Madhubala and Dilip Kumar

This movie is set in a date that predates our project, but it's still lovely. It's also an excellent real-life example of an early Mughal kathak costume, as she's wearing the sheer kurta with a beaded choli/jacket combo and beautifully contrasting bias-cut churidar. It's also an excellent example of the insanity that is repeated and traveling chakkars (spins).
Mughal e Azam was a project that almost never was. It faced many hardships getting of the ground. But the director K. Asrif saw it through, down to the last details. In fact, even the Hindi and Urdu used in this film was linguistically from Mughal-era, not modern.
Madhubala's performance as Anarkali, the slave girl who dared to love a Prince and paid for it with her life, is still one of my favorites of all time. There have been many movies about Anarkali, but none of them hold a candle to Madhubala's performance in my opinion.


Roshan Kumari's performance from Jalsaghar, 1958

I don't know much about this movie. I've only seen excerpts from it, but the little information that is provided about it seems to be about the last days of the crumbling zamindar system in India. Jalsaghar itself means "The Music Room", a nod to the overall theme of music and dance that seems to be central to the plot of the film.