Veteran star Asha Parekh ruled over the Hindi Cinema between the 60s and 80s. She is currently attending the ongoing 53rd International Film Festival of India in Goa. Three of her classics- Do Badan, Kati Patang and Teesri Manzil are being screened there. While speaking at a session, Parekh talked about how films have evolved over time. She said that we are focusing more on western ideas and not putting out our own culture enough in reel as well as real life.
Expressing her disappointment with Indian women preferring western dresses and gowns for their weddings over traditional outfits like ghaghra-choli, Saree, etc., Asha stated, “Everything has changed (since the time she worked in films). The films that are being made are …I do not know, we are so westernized. Gowns pehen k 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? 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 phnenge. Ye western ho raha hai mujhe dukh hota hai (They just want to wear the clothes they see heroines wearing onscreen. Even if they are fat or whatever, they do not care if the clothes will look good on them. I get hurt when I see this westernization). We have such great culture, dance and music we could get it all back in pop culture, added the 80-year-old actress.
For the unversed, Asha Parekh had a glorious career in Bollywood. She has been a recipient of Padma Shri (1992) and Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2020).