Can We Save South India’s Traditional Wear From Vanishing?

Posted by Radhika on July 11th, 2009

Gone are the days when we would find teenage girls walking on streets wearing half sarees. Half saree is the traditional outfit of South India. But for the past two decades the number is reducing year by year and it is almost reaching a stage where the traditional outfit will vanish completely. The North Indian traditional dress shalwar kameez over shadowed half sarees in south and girls of late prefer salwar kameez to half sarees as they find it more comfortable. But then pants are dominating shalwar kameez too in all metropolitan cities irrespective of North or South. The reason being the effect of western culture on Indian youth.

Still, I feel half saree has its own beauty and one should realize that and save our tradition. Therefore, here I present some of the beautiful pictures of South Indian Actresses in half sarees and sarees in order to some boost to our youth.

Bhavana
Actress Bhavana in Yellow Half Saree

Asin Thottumkal
Asin in Blue Half Saree

Asin in Pink Half Saree

Asin in Green Half Saree

Trisha Krishnan
Trisha Krishnan in Green Half Saree

Kajal Agarwal
Kajal Agarwal in Blue Half Saree

Bhumika Chawla
Bhumika in White Half Saree

Bhumika in Blue Half Saree

Bhumika in Red Half Saree

Tamanna
Actress Tamanna in Yellow Half Saree

Tamanna in Yellow Designer Half Saree

Nayantara
Nayantara in Traditional Half Saree

Sneha
Sneha in Pink Half Saree

Sneha in Traditional Saree

Sneha in Red Saree

Sneha in Black Saree

Meera Jasmine
Meera Jasmine in a Traditional Saree

Meera Jasmine in a Traditional Saree

Mamta Mohandas
Mamta Mohandas playing Veena

Navya Nair
Navya Nair in a Traditional Saree

Anushka Shetty
Anushka in Red Saree

Sridevi
Sridevi in Orange Saree

Priyamani
Priyamani in a Traditional Saree

Genelia D’ Souza
Genelia in Green Saree

Genelia in Black Saree

Charmee
Charmee in Gorgeous Blue Saree

Swathi
Colors Swathi in Red Saree

Bhavana
Bhavana in White Saree

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Celebs India, India Today, Indian Heritage, People & Places 11 Comments

Ragini said,

July 15, 2009 @ 8:49 am

Wow! All of them are so pretty. I am a south indian and I love half sarees. I do wear them on special occassions.

Doug Hardy said,

July 30, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

Globalization is an inescapable and necessary phenomena that offers humankind an opportunity to realize that we all are one. I hope that individual cultural differences can survive. India has always shown the ability to adapt to changes while maintaining it’s core values.

The photographs are beautiful. Thank you for this presentation.

Matthew Gilman said,

July 30, 2009 @ 3:47 pm

I actually find this style of dress to be VERY attractive, and it’s a shame that I’m so damn white, because it means I’ll probably never end up with someone who does dress this way.

Rowan Watson said,

July 30, 2009 @ 4:37 pm

i’m not at all indian, but i’ve always loved sarees, and wish i had any or all of these. delightful!

Radhika said,

August 1, 2009 @ 3:22 am

@Matthew Gilman,

I’m very proud and happy to have visitors like you, Rowan Watson and Doug Hardy in my blog who are appreciating the Indian tradition. But one thing I would like to share with you is you needn’t have to worry at all only because you are very fair. You can still choose to wear this outfit by selecting the right color combination. All bright colors will suit fair people and all light colors will suit dark people. Any outfit will go well with us depending on how we carry ourselves because the beauty lies in that.

Radhika

Lokol13 said,

August 8, 2009 @ 8:31 pm

I am a white woman. I would wear a half-saree to a formal dinner or other occasion. I especially like the third one in the Asin Thottumkal series of photos above. But so many beautiful things to see here. Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring!

jayaraj said,

September 4, 2009 @ 9:41 am

im really fond of seeing girls with half sarees . as said by our ancestors “aal paadhi, aadai paadhi” , this one costume makes even some dull complexion girls also to look beautiful and since this is our own culture we south indians still give a lot of imp. to our culture as i believe. nice photos and good illustrations for the topic.

keep up ur good work

regards
s.j.raja

Jim Fowler said,

September 18, 2009 @ 9:04 am

Indian women are among the most beautiful in the world and I hope that their traditional clothing is never forgotten as it is uniquely feminine and joyous. That being said I would like to say that they would not be less beautiful wearing modern fashion and they would have a lot more rights as human beings if they did not cling so tightly to traditions that make them slaves to men in way too many ways. Fashion is the bomb that terrorists fear most!

maverick said,

September 28, 2009 @ 8:15 pm

This costume is not worth saving. Not at all. Its horrible. Well… maybe suitable for those south indian girls as anything smart will not work on them.

emely said,

September 28, 2009 @ 8:23 pm

I totally agree with Jim. Well said!

Rajesperie said,

January 3, 2010 @ 8:34 am

This is such a pity. What’s with India and their choice towards Western ideals???? I have been to South India twice recently and I have always been amazed at the innate beauty of just about every women. Western wear appears to take away their charm to some extent. Everyone here in South Africa absolutely adore sarees and there has been a dramatic increase of people across all races who wear Indian clothing. At the moment the saree is high fashion, draped in sexy ways with exciting blouses. My suggestion is re-invent the saree should you be bored with current styles but PLEASE never lose what is known to be the most elegant outfit in the world on the most admired people in the world.

Thank you so much for bringing awareness to this Radhika.

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