New Delhi: Veteran actor Asha Parekh is currently in Goa attending the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI). At the event, the actress said that she finds it hurtful that Indian women prefer wearing western dresses specially on special occasions like weddings, etc. She said women have started wearing gowns instead of traditional dresses such as ghaghra-choli.
Asha said at one of the sessions, “Everything has changed (since the time when she worked in films). The films that are being made are …I do not know, we are so westernised. gowns pehen k wedding pe aa rahi hain ladkiyan. Arre bhaiya, humari ghaghra choli, saariyan aur salwar-kameez hai aap wo pehno na (Dear, we have ghaghar-choli, salwar-kameez and sarees, wear those).”
She added, “Why dont 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, whether they are fat or anything. I get hurt when I see this westernisation). We have such great culture, dance and music we could get it all back in pop culture.”
Asha also spoke about Asha also addressed the rumour that she did not like Dilip Kumar. “I adored him and always wanted to work with him. There was a film called Zabardast which I signed with him. We were supposed to work together but I was unlucky and the movie got shelved,” she was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
The actress attended the screening of her 1971 film 'Kati Patang', where she acted opposite Rajesh Khanna, at the Dada Saheb Phalke Award Retro section of the 53rd IFFI. The section has been dedicated this year to Parekh, who was declared the winner of the prestigious national award for the year 2020.