From Bipasha Basu's 'shankha pola' to Yami Gautam's 'dejhoor', many Bollywood actresses have donned the jewelleries carried by married women of their culture. Check out, who they are!
India is a country of rich cultures and traditions. Every community has some rituals and follow certain values to abide by. Being a country with such diversity, it is common that the wedding rituals amongst different cultures would be different too. However, another thing that is diverse amongst the different communities is the way in which the married women carry the symbols of their marriage.
While the Punjabi's are more into flaunting their choodas and mangalsutra, Bengali married women focus more on the shankha pola and sindoor as a symbol of being married. On the other hand, Maharashtrians take green bangles and mangalsutra to flaunt their marital status. However, there are many celebrities, who had flaunted these ornaments and had nailed the look, while representing the diversity in the cultures of the country.
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Yami Gautam had tied the knot with the director of Uri: The Surgical Strike, Aditya Dhar. In one of the post-wedding pictures, Yami had worn a dejhoor that had paid homage to her husband, Aditya's Kashmiri roots. A dejhoor is a staple among Kashmiri married women. Yami looked absolutely stunning in a red saree and with the parting of her hair filled with vermillion, she aced her look with the traditional jewelleries.
Not only that, when Yami Gautam and Aditya Dhar had returned to Mumbai after completing their wedding, the duo was snapped by the shutterbugs at the Mumbai airport. Yami had carried her dejhoor for her airport look as well and had exuded the glow of a newly married bride.
Angira Dhar had married the director of her film, Love Per Square Foot, Anand Tiwari. Unlike, Yami Gautam, who married a Kashmiri guy, Angira Dhar is a Kashmiri herself. So at her wedding, she had a separate ceremony in which she was made to wear those earrings. Angira had taken to her IG handle to share some pictures and she looked absolutely stunning while flaunting her dejhoor. For the uninitiated, a dejhoor is said to be given by a father to his daughter before her wedding. For the ritual, Angira had donned a golden kurta set and tied her hair in ponytails and the bindi had accentuated her look.
Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh had tied the knot in a Konkani style wedding and then in a Sindhi style wedding. Deepika had opted for a red Sabyasachi lehenga, complete with an embroidered dupatta that bore an incantation of Sada Saubhagyavati Bhava on the border. Besides her surreal lehenga and makeup, our South Indian bride had made heads turn by flaunting her chooda and kaleeras. Therefore making us believe that even a South Indian bride can nail her North Indian look.
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For her D-day, Kareena Kapoor Khan had ditched a contemporary lehenga to chose a traditional sharara which was also worn by her mother-in-law, Sharmila Tagore, for her own nikaah in 1962. The sharara set comprised of a tissue rust-orange kurta, a matching dupatta embroidered heavily in gold, and the sharara had a contrasting mint green border.
Kareena Kapoor Khan’s bridal jewellery choices had fallen perfectly in line with her regal wedding sharara set. She had opted for a statement choker, earrings, a maang teeka and a passa to complete her bridal look. The actress had donned Saif Ali Khan's grandmother's heirloom jewellery. A passa is also known as a jhoomar and was worn by the queens of the Mughal emperors and is one of the statement pieces in a Muslim wedding. However, nowadays it is embraced by Hindus and Muslims alike.
Actress, Sharmila Tagore and former Indian cricketer, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's daughter, Soha Ali Khan had tied the knot with actor, Kunal Kemmu in the year 2015. For her nikaah, Soha had chosen an ivory and orange Sabyasachi ensemble for the main ceremony. She had completed her look with show-stopping jewellery including a choker, maang teeka and earrings that had rounded off her look. However, what had made heads turn was a beautiful nod to her Muslim roots with the passa hanging onto her hair.
Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza had two wedding ceremonies to honour their respective cultures, and one was a Maharashtrian wedding. Genelia and Riteish had donned the pearl mundavalya, a stringed headpiece worn by brides and grooms in Maharashtrian weddings. And just like any other Maharashtrian bride and groom, the duo had exuded pure Maharashtrian nawara and nawari vibes.
Staying true to their roots — Milind is a Maharashtrian, while Ankita is Assamese — the couple’s wedding was a blend of both cultures. They mixed and matched their Assamese outfits with Maharashtrian accessories and also performed certain Assamese rituals at the wedding ceremony. And just like any other Assamese bride, Ankita opted for a white saree. On the other hand, the bride also carries a Maharashtrian style nathni and bindi impeccably. She also donned a dholbri that is worn by Assamese brides. It is a unique drum-shaped pendant studded with gemstones or adorned with meenakari work, the dholbri is a necklace design that is authentically unique to Assam and is attached with an adjustable silken chain.
Esha Deol and Bharat Takhtani's wedding was held as per Tamil traditions at ISKCON Temple in Juhu, for which Esha wore a heavy silk Kanjeevaram sari in red and gold with heavy traditional South Indian jewellery. Her jewellery gave her an authentic South Indian bride look and comprised of heavy large gold kasulaperu necklaces, traditional diamond short choker necklace, paired with heavy gold jhumkas along with ear chains and a ruby studded heavy matha patti. Neeta Lulla, who had designed Esha’s wedding outfit for her character in Na Tum Jaano Na Hum had reworked the saree and blouse for the occasion.
Anita Hassanandani and Rohit Reddy had got hitched in Goa in a beautiful South Indian wedding ceremony. Anita Hassanandani had worn a white coloured sari with a red coloured border. The actress had worn a matching red coloured blouse and some pearl jewellery to complete the look. She completed her look with a gold necklace, waistband and earrings worn by South Indian brides. She tied her hair up and wore a maang teeka. She completed the look by securing her hair tightly in a bun with a gajra and looked like a perfect South Indian bride.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty Kundra come from Tulu-speaking families from Mangalore, which is why they both wore the traditional mundale, a type of maang teeka and mathapatti hybrid, worn on the parting of her forehead by the brides from the region. Both of them also flaunted their vanki or an armlet worn on the arm and a patti (gold belt) worn around the waist. These are traditional Mangalorean pieces worn by the brides
Ankita had paid homage to Karan Patel's Gujarati roots and looked stunning in a gorgeous white and gold lehenga with a red border. The red and white combination had given her the quintessential Gujarati bride look. Apart from that she also carried a baju bandh and damini, that is worn by Gujarati brides. A baju bandh is an armlet carried by the brides in the upper arm complementing other bridal jewelleries. Whereas a damini is the Gujarati version of a maang teeka. This is another piece of ornament the bride is made to wear. It changes the look completely and beautifies her. Damini is worn in the forehead and its side loops are attached to the sides.
A Parsi bride is a vision to behold. She wears a heavy embroidered white saree in silk or chiffon, known as the ParsiGara, and is draped in typical Parsi style. Her head is covered at all times with the saree’s pallu. A Parsi bride has to wear red bangles, given to her by her mother-in-law. Apart from that, she does not wear a lot of heavy gold jewellery. Bollywood actress, Nauheed Cyrusi had showcased the most beautiful Parsi bridal look at her wedding. After three years of courtship, Nausheed and her husband, Rustom had decided to tie the knot according to traditional Parsi customs at the historic Seth Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary in Colaba.
Actress, Charu Asopa had tied the knot with Sushmita Sen's brother and actor, Rajeev Sen. Owing to their respective cultures, the duo had a wedding in both Rajasthani and Bengali style. For her Rajasthani style wedding, Charu had donned a crimson lehenga which drew resemblance to a Rajasthani bride’s attire. She had accessorised her look with a heavy necklace, a nath and borla (maang teeka worn by Rajasthani brides). Charu was looking no less than a stunning Indian bride as she wore traditional Rajasthani chooda on her hands.
The couple also had a Bengali traditional wedding where Rajeev as the Bengali groom was seen wearing topor (headgear) while Bengali bride was seen wearing a mukut. Charu looked like a beautiful Indian bride after vermilion was applied on her forehead parting by Rajeev.
A Bengali marriage involves a lot of rituals. However, making the bride wear the conch shell bangle and the red coral bangle known as shankha pola is a special one as the bangle represents the marital status of a woman. And actress, Bipasha Basu had slayed the look flaunting the shankha pola and the crown, also known as mukut in Bengali. The Bengali bride had looked surreal in her Sabyasachi lehenga. A representation of Bengal's coastal culture, the mukut is traditionally made of shola, which is taken from Indian cork trees.
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Don't you think that these celebrity brides look absolutely beautiful representing their respective cultures? Do let us know.