Period movies and some dance sequences in Bollywood remind us of two major attractions; costumes and jewellery. Especially with period movies, the elaborate efforts made to reincarnate the visual glory of age old historical characters reflects in the sets, costumes, jewellery and even the language. Obviously, Bollywood is a money churner for allied industries like fashion and jewellery. Even a few latest blockbuster rollouts of period movies accentuates this fact.

Jewellery design trends from the movies are a rage among the Indians. In this age of fashion jewellery, even more, youngsters are ready to take the trend and carry the fad with gusto. When a movie portrays a regional history and characters, their ornaments on the screen brings back traditional jewellery to the forefront of current fashion. The jewellery brands mobilise its jewellery designing team to craft traditional jewellery and sell it especially for occasions like marriages.

 

 

Taking Bollywood’s tryst with jewellery design goes back decades. The “saadgi” era had a lot of scope for presenting heroines in fashionable and traditional jewellery, complementing their beauty and grace. Professional jewellery designing courses in India was still a rarity and traditional goldsmiths ruled the roost. The moviedom had occasional period movies like “Mughal-E-Azam”, artistic movies like “Pakeezah” and classics like “Devdas” that secretly etched the jewellery fashion in the minds of millions of women who also identified it with their prevalent culture.

When modernity swept in and the portrayal of leading women in potboilers and mainstream cinema began to turn more fashionable, bold and glamorous, their jewellery also began to transition from traditional to fusion and designer. The advent of jewellery designing school concept brought in professional jewellery designers and branded jewellery. Bollywood gladly allied itself with these new age entities that pioneered the concept of fashion jewellery into the 21st century.

In the more recent times, the period films made a comeback and movies like Bahubali and Bajirao Mastani brought Bollywood full circle to re-introduce the grand old traditional and era-based jewellery.

 

 

Bajirao Mastani showcased traditional Maharashtrian jewellery in all its glory. The ensemble of jewellery seen on the screen included traditional Maharashtrian necklaces like Vajratik, Surya Har and Karwari Nath. Earrings and nose piercings included Brahmani Nath and Karwari Nath. All these jewellery items came into fashion for the youth even outside Maharashtra.

The South Indian behemoth, “Bahubali” became a rage in Bollywood too. The number of jewellery items in this movie ran into thousands. Jewellery fashion was not just limited to women but even the tribal fashioned ornaments of men became fashionable. Traditional South Indian jewellery items like Kasula Peru, Aravanaki, Vaddanam and Haralu took the limelight along with the characters in the movie. There were a lot of custom jewellery too that the artisans worked on for months to create.

 

 

Another movie in the line in Bollywood is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmavati”, which is also a period movie, that will again trigger a new wave of jewellery fashion that will be celebrated. All these affirm the fact that Bollywood prompts, in a big way, the renewed surge of jewellery trends. Given the love of Indians for Bollywood, the combination of Bollywood and jewellery design industry is only expected to make the future glitter more.

Going with the tradition and innovating with fusion, besides creating new designs are all part of jewellery designing education and practice. Jewellery design industry and Bollywood nourish each other’s prospects, and create monumental fashion statements on screen, only to be followed by the masses.

The discovery of jewellery design through Bollywood is a sure shot way to pass on new thoughts about India’s jewellery fashion culture that still reigns over foreign influences for a large section of the Indian population. In India, a movie can make or break a trend as the crowd is largely enthusiastic about films and film stars. The soul of a vibrant and festive India also rests in the jewellery they wear and the significance they give to fashionable ornaments.

Now that the craft of jewellery designing is a professional expertise one can train to acquire, the stellar dream of exposure on the silver screen is another ambition that he/she can nurture to make career dreams come true.