Bollywood Inspired Saree Looks

In India, Bollywood and fashion are deeply linked and thankfully, on-screen and off-screen Bollywood fashions have changed dramatically from the days of garish sarees and ill-fitted clothes. Those looking to Bollywood stars for inspiration when styling their sarees will have plenty of looks to explore and it is not at all difficult to put such looks together from the comfort of your home. Utsav Fashion has a whole catalogue dedicated to the Bollywood saree, including the most popular movie-inspired saree styles like chiffon sarees, net sarees, lace sarees and much more. Moreover Utsav Fashion also has a lovely collection of ethnic accessories of all types. Here are some of the most iconic and easily achievable Bollywood saree looks:

Guajarati/Rajasthani Bandhani saree

This is a more traditional look inspired by the Bollywood epics set in Rajasthan and Gujarat, where the actress dons brightly colored Bandhani sarees. The bright color of a Bandhani saree pairs beautifully with chunky antique Indian jewelry like necklaces, armlets, earrings; finish the look with thick ‘kajal’ or eye-liner and a bold bindi.

Chiffon sarees

Nowadays chiffon sarees come in many different colors and with a lot of different prints and embroideries. However the original romantic Bollywood look popularized by Yash Chopra’s heroines demands a plain chiffon saree in a soft, feminine shade, like sky blue, baby pink and so on. Keep the accessories minimal and go for classy pieces like a pearl necklace, pearl earrings or pearl bracelets.

Dramatic Hues

Bollywood actresses love cocktail sarees in dramatic shades. Pick out a red sari made of a sheer fabric like net and pair it up with a gold blouse and gold earrings. Those who want a bold look can go for a black saree with glittering diamond jewelry and a sleeve-less blouse.

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola – Movie Review

“Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola”, belongs to feudal lord, Hukum Singh Mandola aka Harry (Pankaj Kapur) from the first frame, literally. Harry harbours the dream of selling his agricultural land for industrialisation and development, not sparing a thought to the villagers’ plight.

But that is only when he is sober. But after taking alcohol, he is a changed man, completely transformed. The socialist in him surfaces and incredibly, he challenges his own feudal self, wanting to help his villagers.

He is not the only one wanting to help the poor villagers. Matru (Imran Khan), Mandola’s driver-cum-assistant and his partner in crime, too is egalitarian and wants to help the villagers save their land.

There is Mao, a faceless well-wisher, who manages to offer timely help to the villagers. And there is Mandola’s foreign educated daughter Bijlee (Anushka Sharma) too joining in the revolution.

On the surface, at the start, it seems like a light-hearted entertainer about an alcoholic feudal lord, his drunken idiosyncrasies and his villagers. It’s when Chief Minister Chaudhary Devi (Shabana Azmi) mouths, “Maslaa hai desh ka, na power ka na bijli ka,” sums up the larger issues that the film deals with and post her entry it becomes evident that it is a political satire.

The film is not only layered with demons of the society, but also deals with personal demons that haunt Mandola, his people and the place.

Pankaj Kapur is the only star of the film as the film belongs to him. After “Maqbool”, this is easily his best. He keeps the audience regaled with his “pancho pancho” after guzzling a few pegs, hallucinating about a “gulabi bhains” (pink buffalo) and when he is confronting the scheming Devi (Azmi).

He delivers a power-packed performance with convivial ease.

Arya Babbar as Badal, Devi’s imbecile son, delivers a compelling and consistent performance.

Imran as the idealistic, rustic Matru is a refreshing change from his usual suave and debonair avatar. He slips into his role with simplicity. Unfortunately for him, his character is not so well rounded and is on the fringe of the plot.

Anushka fails to be thunderous in her performance even though she is Bijlee. She walks through the film doing what she always does – playing a bold and spunky girl with I-care-a damn attitude.

The music, as expected from Bhardwaj, is outstanding. “Oye Boy Oye Boy Charlie” is well-picturised though reminiscent of “Namak ishq ka” from “Omkara”. The title song is energy-packed though not too relevant in the context of the film.

The background score and the lyrics by Gulzar are equally a treat and add to the pace of the film.

Bhardwaj has managed to package the film well. The treatment is indeed poetic and smooth. The cinematography is good and inspiring. The dialogues and lyrics are hard hitting with messages and oodles of entertainment, mostly double entendre.

The plot is layered and complex, but not without flaws. The barbs on the political system and society are contemporary and may lose their context in years to come, very reminiscent of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) plays.

“Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola” may not have a universal appeal, but it is thoroughly entertaining.

Vidya Balan’s Wedding Look

After Kareena and Saif, now Vidya Balan got hitched with SRK! Oops…don’t mistake him with the baadshah of Bollwyood – Shah Rukh Khan’ because we’re talking about the head-honcho of UTV movies, Siddhartha Roy Kapoor. Yes, after many no’s, the bride and the groom have finally said yes to each other when they took the sacred plunge in the pious water of marriage.

The year 2012 saw many actresses donning up the bridal avatar namely Genelia D’Souza, Esha Deol and the glamorous Kareena Kapoor. Each opted for a different look personifying her own charm and beauty. We can’t forget the simple salwar kameez look Kareena portrayed for her registry marriage. On the other hand, her much talked about sharara and stylishly designed Bollywood saree for the Nikaah post party and reception was elegantly gorgeous.

Unlike other Bollywood weddings, the Dirty Girl Vidya Balan chose for a no Bollywood sarees bridal trousseau. Vidya’s wedding saree collection consists of 18 handcrafted sarees from the designer. Most of the sarees are in dark hues, while few are vibrant with multiple colors and shades.

She opted for a low profile marriage ceremony without much of hullabaloo. Vidya Balan and UTV Motion Pictures’ CEO SRK had a non-glamorous wedding which was a perfect blend of South Indian and Punjabi rituals as the bride is a Tamilian while the groom is a Punjabi. As expected, the actress chose her favourite designer-cum- friend Sabyasachi Mukherjee to design her bridal trousseau. The designer sourced Madras silk from Chennai for creating her bridal saree.

Following the wedding rituals, Vidya changed her bridal outfits thrice. She was spotted wearing a mustard hued silk saree with a fuchsia blouse that perfectly matched the groom’s yellow kurta and pink turban. After the wedding, for her post-marriage ceremony she chooses to wear a red colored saree with golden zari work and Punjabi chooda (bangles) while Siddharth looked dapper in an elegant white and yellow kurta pajama.

Now you can buy sarees online just by browsing through your favourite designer’s collection. Or, you can also search for designer sarees online which are available in latest designs and styles at an affordable price range. Utsav Fashion is an online store offering the best Indian ethnic fashion wear range in bridal sarees, wedding lehenga-choli and salwar kameez along with sparkling wedding jewellery.

Sunny Leone Signed 3-Movies

After making a sizzling Bollywood debut in Mahesh Bhat’s Jism 2, the Indo-Canadian adult film star Sunny Leone has bagged a three-movie deal with Alumbra Entertainment. She is counted among the most stunning debutantes of the year 2012. Immediately after the success of Jism 2 on the box office, Sunny Leone was signed for the sequel of ‘Ragini MMS 2,’ to be produced under the banner of Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motions Pictures.

The actress has shifted her base from Los Angeles to Mumbai earlier this year, after receiving a warm welcome by the Indian film industry in a big way. Now, the actress is all geared up for her second film, Ragini MMS 2. She will start shooting for the first film under the banner Alumbra Entertainment in the second quarter of 2013.

Sunny’s journey in India begin with her participation in Big Boss season 5. Today, she is on a spree of singing Bollywood movies. Alumbra Entertainment was recently in the news during the release of ‘Bhoot Returns’ for being associated with the film. Few other projects, the company is producing include ‘Ab Tak Chhappan 2’, ‘Warning’ and another film based on the 26/11 attacks.

Want some more new? The actress will be performing a live dance show on the New Year’s eve in the capital city.

Ritu Kumar’s ‘Panchvastra’ Collection

Indian fashion industry consists of immensely talented and skillful designers and one name that has always sparkled as a glowing star is of veteran designer Ritu Kumar. She is known for her beautiful and intricately woven Indian ethnic wear dresses primarily bridal sarees, Indian suit designs and wedding lehenga-choli.

She is a big name in fashion industries across the globe. Popularly known as the one who dresses the Indian beauty queens, Ritu Kumar always strive and work towards revival of rich heritage of Indian textile and promoting different kinds of Indian embroideries. Each piece by this veteran designer – Indian salwar kameez, a conventional saree or a heavily embellished lehenga-choli – highlights a seamless marriage of traditional weaves and modern design sensibilities.  As, we bid goodbye to this year, let’s take a look at the collection named ‘Panchvastra’ by this celebrated designer.

With the idea of popularizing hand-woven textiles, this collection re-establishes vintage clothing with a modern twist. Panchvastra is a couture collection comprising of Indian salwar kameez designs, sarees and lehenga-choli woven in chanderi and cotton in an array of colors. Depicting the various aspects of a woman, Ritu Kumar’s collection pays special attention to the palette where every color highlights different moods of femininity. One can find few details where each ethnic piece is accentuated with the Ritu Kumar signature embellishments infused with diverse color play and silhouette detailing.

The divine collection of sarees, Indian suit designs and lehenga choli borrows inspiration from strong and beautiful characters from the Hindu epics namely, Ganga, Draupadi, Kunti, Amba and Gandhari. Each part of the collection highlights a particular mood of these strong-headed women through a display of textures, colors and styles associated with them. Emotions associated with each character like purity, seduction, swamyawar, exile and darkness are well carved out in this collection through different colors.

The collection uses vibrant color palate consisting of bright and bold hues. Mirror-work with gota, zardozi embroidery and Swarovski crystal embellishments radiates a royal look to the collection. Therefore, this makes these garments perfectly suitable for the bridal trousseau.

Ganga symbolizes purity therefore, the collection showcasing her part of story emphasize on lighter color palette mainly whites, peaches and blush pinks. Next is Draupadi who was known for her beauty and therefore garments included in this part of the story board highlighted a seductive style. Color palette did perfect justice with a color play of cold and bright colors primarily blacks burgundy and reds. Bright and bolder shades were followed by warm and earthy hues of orange, gold and fuchsia that depicted the period of exile by Amba. On the other hand, dresses in indigo and black with accents of gold reflected darkness suffered by Gandhari. Last but not the least Kunti’s mood of illusion was well depicted with opulently embellished lehengas.

Today, there are numbers of online shopping websites offering this collection. One can easily shop for these magnificent sarees, lehenga choli and suit salwars online, from any corner of the world.

Deepika Padukone and her Changing Avatars

Her onscreen character resembled a demure girl when she started off her Bollywood journey with Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shaanti Om’. Her pretty Indian looks then, mesmerized almost every men across the world. With time, her simple and sombre looks underwent a process of metamorphism and her newly adopted glamorously fashionable avatar hits the headlines almost every day. She surprise us every time! Sometime we wonder, how can someone carry off every look with so élan and poise. Yes, we’re talking about none other than dazzling diva Deepika Padukone.

No one can forget her ultra-glam she sported in Cocktail. Deepika is back with her racy and splendorous look in her next action flick, Race 2. She will be seen performing some exceptional action in Abbas-Mustan’s this action thriller. The posters of Race 2 are out and Deepika sports a dazzling white gown with high thigh slit and bright scarlet lips that peppers up the oomph factor.

Race 2 is a sequel to the 2008 released action thriller. The casting includes Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Amisha Patel and Jacqueline Fernandez. The sequel will release on 25th Jan, 2013.

After sporting a seductively gorgeous avatar in the action packed thriller, Deepika will be seen in a complete opposite appearance in Chennai Express. Starring along with Shah Rukh Khan, the actress will appear in a south Indian ethnic dress with loosely braided bun adorned with flowers.

After Chennai Express Deepika Padukone also has a south Indian movie titled Rana opposite Rajnikanth in her kitty, scheduled for release later.

Sonam Kapoor’s Quirky Sari Style Statements

She is the ultimate style icon of Bollywood. I’m talking about the one and only Sonam Kapoor. After her ultra glam avatar in Aisha…she is tagged as the most fashionable and stylish Bollywood actress. Whether it’s her red carpet walk at Cannes, or her appearance at Paris Fashion Week…this lady knows how to stay in style with anything and everything she wears.

Recently, the fashionista received her custom-made pair of Ferragamo shoes. During her visit to Milan Fashion Week, early this year the classy yet chic actress conceptualized the design of these shoes along with a designer from Ferragamo. Not to forget, maintaining her style statement, Sonam was a front row guest at the preview show of Salvatore Ferragamo Autumn Winter 2012 Women’s collection at Milan Fashion Week.

For the recent, Ferragamo event, she sported a quirky saree style ensemble by designer Anamika Khanna. She wore the saree ensemble with a front zipper blouse in rustic hues.  Attention grabbing temple earrings, bangles and ankle belted heels perfectly complimented her fusion look. This appearance resembled her grecian saree drape look she sported at the red carpet of IIFA awards.

Without any second thoughts, this actress surely knows how to make everyone go gaga over her uber-cool and stylish looks. Whether she wears a saree or a dress that exudes an old Hollywood charm, she manages to steal the spotlight.

Barfi Movie Review: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra

Soft instrumental music plays in the background. An actor switches between funny expressions and a straight face with ease. He trips over the side walk and he hasn’t got one line of dialogue to speak. While this may seem like a description of a Charlie Chaplin film, it’s also an accurate account of Barfi! Its countless silent film references are just a tip of the iceberg. At its warm gooey heart is a love triangle between a confused young girl, a mute hero and mentally challenged girl. And by the end of it’ll urge you to stand up and give it an old-fashioned applause.

The film opens with an old man crawling out of this bed, setting up the camera and sitting in front of it for a portrait shot. The movie camera zooms into every action and you hardly catch a glimpse of the actor. Until of course the still camera clicks and you realise it is Ranbir Kapoor with grey hair. It’s smart film design and this characteristic runs through Barfi! right till the end. The reason it’s so important is that the camera and the narrative are the fourth and fifth characters of this film. They amplify the emotions and situations of the three lead characters.

The three leads then are the anchors. Ranbir as Barfi is the deaf and mute guy who lives life without handicaps. He falls for Shruti (Ileana D’Cruz) but she’s forever confused if she loves him or not. And then there’s Priyanka Chopra as Jhilmil, who is autistic, Ranbir’s childhood friend and quite possibly the most important character in Barfi! Their love triangle is unlike any you’ve seen before. In particular the odd pairing of Barfi and Jhilmil. Their handicaps aren’t something you sympathize with simply because their unaffected love puts blinders on your eyes. By the time the climax approaches you wish for them to be together.

The reason these characters infiltrate the depths of your emotions is their respective actors’ performances. This is Ileana’s first film but her fantastic performance is just a testament why the Telugu audience consider her a superstar. Of course it also helps that she is the most appealing visual in Barfi! out shining even the scenic hills of Darjeeling. Ranbir Kapoor has proved he’s the actor in town. And Barfi is one more addition to the films we’ll remember him for. Yes his character has inspirations of Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Llyod but Barfi is so much more. He’s the guy who can’t speak a word, yet every line he acts out on screen you are able to read in your mind, even though you don’t know head or tail of sign language. That is the magic of Ranbir and his performance. And then there’s the surprise package of Priyanka Chopra. She looks her part and her rendition of an autistic character is by far the best representation of this condition on Indian celluloid. She breaks your heart, numbs your eyes and makes you smile all in the same breath.

A key factor why PC is so effective is Anurag Basu’s decision to not give her dialogue. PC literally has less than 10 lines to speak in the whole film and it’s her nervous silence that gives you a heavy heart. Basu also gives his film a jumpy narrative that juggles between present day, 1972 and 1978 with no particular order. This does create complexity but all of it has masterful detail and continuity.

Barfi! is that rare film that can make you smile and make you cry in the same scene. Its technical brilliance is only outdone by its emotional complexity and depth. Pritam’s music adds a nice silent-era charm to this already fantastic story, making it an occasion when words simply aren’t enough.

 

 

 

Mesmerizing Mehendi Designs 2012

‘Mehendi’ is an auspicious element in Indian weddings. Beautiful and finely designed henna art for your wedding day adds grace and completes your bridal look. Check out the latest mehendi designs and share with us, how many of you are crazy for this beautiful art of mehendi? Lehengas or Saree with these mehndi will be gorgeous combination on any festive or wedding occasion.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All Image Courtsey: amehndidesigns2011

BOLLYWOOD WALKS THE BEJEWELLED RAMP!

It’s a clean sweep by the Bollywood brigade! Filmi celebrities are not only dictating trends in apparel and accessories, but have now taken over the jewelry industry as well. The recently concluded India International Jewelry Week 2012 (IIJW) in Mumbai was a twinkling, starry affair. From the young and exuberant stars of today to the sedate and graceful heroines of yesterday – the Who’ Who walked the ramp displaying jewelry of every possible kind. For the audience, it was a feast of breathtaking styles in diamond, gold, precious stones and semi-precious stones, in Kundan and Jadau work, classical or contemporary…and so much more! If you would love to wear what the stars are flaunting, why don’t you check out the Utsav Collection of Fashion Jewelry? We have an array that’s guaranteed to make you feel very, very special!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.