Sari state of affairs(mm article)

Sari state of affairs

Two heroines of two serials, on two channels. But the sari remains the same! What's with the TV industry?

Sapana Patil Poojary

Check this out. Two protagonists of two serials on two channels are wearing the same sari. (Both Niharika of Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka and Priyanka Lamba of Viraasat have draped the same sari, a Seasons creation.)

It struck us as strange because extravagance is an essence of television serials these days. Be it sets, costumes, props (or even situations), everything looks larger than life in serials today. TRP-driven producers can't take the risk of compromising on production values as its impact is quick to reflect on the show.
So, what's with the same sari?

When contacted, Kalpesh Shah, owner of Seasons, said, "We provide saris to almost 15 serials. We have deputed different people to co-ordinate and provide saris for different serials." When asked how the sari was repeated, he said, "These saris have become popular with our customers. It was part of our catalogue and annual calendar too. On our part, an attempt is made to maintain a decent time lag before a dress used in one serial is repeated in any other serial. So I don't know what happened. I guess the repetition could have occurred because actors sometimes buy saris from us in their personal capacity and wear their personal collections on screen."

Kinnari Mehtaa, producer of Sinndoor… says, "This sari was used some time in June 2006. Generally saris are not repeated. After their use, they are auctioned online or, after some alterations, passed on to other serials."

But in this case, it seems the co-ordinators of the production house, as well the store, goofed up on maintaining a decent time gap between the use of the sari. After the sari was used in Sinndoor in June 2006, Sangeeta Ghosh wore it, around the same time, for a press conference for Viraasat in Mumbai and later sported it in the serial too.