After Jaya Bachchan, Asha Parekh asks why Indian women wear western clothes: ‘Mote ho ya jo, hum wahi pehnenge’

While speaking at a session, Parekh said, “Everything has changed. The films that are being made. I do not know, we are so westernised. Gowns pehen ke wedding pe aa rahi hain ladkiyan. Arre bhaiya, humari ghaghra choli, saariyan aur salwar-kameez hai aap wo pehno na. Why don’t you wear those?” (Why don’t they wear our ghagra choli, saree and salwar-kameez)

She added, “They just watch the heroines on the screen and wish to copy them. Screen pe dekh ke wo jo kapde pehen rahe us tarah ke kapde hum bhi pehnenge …mote ho, ya jo, hum wahi phenenge. Ye western ho raha hai mujhe dukh hota hai (They just want to wear the clothes being worn by the actors on screen irrespective of their body type. I am very sad about westernisation).”

A few days ago, veteran actor Jaya Bachchan had also voiced a similar opinion. On the podcast What The Hell Navya, Jaya had asked her daughter Shweta Bachchan and granddaughter Navya Nanda, “Why is it, I want to ask you both, that Indian women are wearing more western clothes?”

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When none of them had an answer, Jaya said, “I feel what has happened is very unknowingly, we’ve accepted that the western clothing is more… it gives that manpower to a woman. I would love to see a woman in a womanpower. I’m not saying go wear a saree that’s just an example but I think in the west also women always dressed in dresses. This whole thing much later in life where they also started also wearing pants.”