Vidya Balan On Promoting Handloom

Flo, Hyderabad chapter organized a program with houseful of members which was highly appreciated and well received.we had Vidyabalan and Sanjay Garg of Raw mango in conversation with Bandana Tewari as moderator.Chapter felicitated two outstanding women from Hyderabad who have worked all their lives for the revival of Handlooms, Uzaramma and Suraiya Hasan Bose.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

VIDYABALAN is an Indian Actress.She established a career in Bollywood and is the recipient of several awards including a National Film Award , five Filmfare Awards , five Screen Awards and was awarded the Padmasri by the Government of India in 2014.She is known for potraying strong female protagonists and has been acknowledged in the media for pioneering a change in the concept of a Hindi film heroine.

Vidya promotes humanitarian causes and supports the empowerment of women.in 2011 she endorsed world world life fund s Earth Hour Campaign in India.She campaigned for the cause of nutrition in India for Child in Need Institute, a non profit organization based in kolkata.In 2012 Vidya visited a village in Mirzapur ,UP, where she participated in a campaign to promote children s education and empowerment of women.For her attempts to empower women Vidya was awarded The Prabha Kaitan Puraskar ,2012.Vidya has also been appointed by the Govt of India as their brand ambassador in the drive to improve the country s sanitary condition.

RAW MANGO S SANJAY GARG known for making handloom sarees fashionable.He is the champion of traditional weaves ,relying purely on the wefts and warps of the textile to create designs . He was the winner of the British Counsil s Young Fashion Entreprenuer Award for 2010.

BANDANA TEWARI film features director, Vogue .Tewari aims to educate and engage readers in India about International Luxury Brands weaving in profiles of Gucci and Louis vuitton with context about Indian consumers.At the sametime ,she offers insight into Indian culture and practices for western labels attempting to establish a presence in the market ,such as avoiding ostentatious displays in certain months and tailoring products for local consumers.In 2006 she was named Fashion Journalist of the Year, at the Fashion Awards in Mumbai.

UZARAMMA has been associated with cotton textile industry since 1989 .she founded Dastakar Andhra in 1992.In 2005 she founded the Decentralised Cotton Yarn Trust which is setting up small scale units to process raw cotton to yarn at field locations .The product is new cotton fabric named Malka ,with improved luster ,absorbency and durability.

SURAIYA HASAN BOSE is engaged in revival work of four different textile forms of Aurangabad Paithani, Jamawar, Himroo, Mushroo.She set up a small weaving unit ,trining widows in the art of weaving.She has been bestowed by many awards ,Godfry Phillips Award, The Yudhvir Foundation Award and Devi Award by New Indian Express Group.

The Program started at 2.30 pm with the National anthem followed by lighting of the lamp.Chairperson Rekha Lahoti spoke about FLO and its various skill development initiatives and updated on upcoming events.we felicitated Uzaramma and Suraiya for their tireless work in the field of handlooms.Later Bandana Tewari was in conversation with Vidyabalan and Sanjay garg ,the evening ended with a Q& A session.

KEY POINTS

• Vidyabalan was fascinated by sarees from the age of 5yrs.She said her idea of beauty and grace comes from saree.She feels saree is extremely feminine, sensuous, graceful, strong, powerful, fun and everything.
• Indian cinema saree moments for Vidya are Meena Kumari s NAJAVO SAIYYA…..She loves Rekha s sarees and Shabana Azmi s in Arth and Masoom.She likes the sarees she wore in PA ,simple cotton sarees ,she says very much like her.She also likes her Bengali style sarees in PARINEETHA.
• She says all the women present to tell their daughters and sons to celebrate our heritage that is Sarees ,by emphasizing that being traditional can be cool, trendy and contemporary.And also to give sarees as gifts.
• Sanjay Garg, the designer spoke about his passion in handlooms.Handlooms create great uniqueness in sarees.
• He feels there is a big shift in the perception of handloom products, something indigenous and variety to choose from.He also added handlooms of India has no competition from anywhere in the world.
• Keeping in mind the 6 yards saree still experimentation can be done by way of different blouses and cuts of blouses.
• Bandana Tewari says there is lot of reverence towards handlooms of India around the world ,she is happy that lot of young designers are taking up handlooms.
• During her project Renaisance she went to different villages of India collecting handloom fabric and called international top designers like Gucci, Louis Vittoun and 32 designers gave them the fabric and asked them to design something with their DNA and sensibility and was overwhelmed by the boots and different products which came back from them.
• Her suggestion to all is don’t keep the old sarees which you are not wearing in the cupboards instead transform them into wearable wear by using creativity and innovation.

Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izjc5Aw9Vtk
Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42aieHsqkcM
Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PskF7aux5tw
Part 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygtcSQkjFfM
Part 5 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s0uaixHnrU
Part 6 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=251bDDTbkOM
Part 7 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLMf6SZ4ayY

Synopsis – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMnz3Y3kgqI

Photos – https://plus.google.com/103626710524703158911/posts/X43gUhmiC5v