Life & Style

The Northern Lights Installation at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival
| Photo Credit: Mounish Bhatt

Mothers, sisters, aunts — every family has that one relative who is adept at draping a sari. Until a few years ago, one of them would be assigned the task of draping the bride’s wedding sari. She would stand still in her blouse and skirt, a bunch of safety pins in hand, as the relative went about the task, joking about the groom’s relatives as the bride blushed. Today though, the wedding sari has evolved a great deal. While local salons have make-up artistes who usually drape the client’s sari, brides now prefer experts who can do the job to the T. Sari drapers offer impeccable finish, not to mention styling tips on how to carry the outfit well. After all, a sari’s beauty depends entirely on how it is draped. 

“At six yards, it is a very versatile garment. It doesn’t need any stitch or cut and yet, fits every single female on this planet,” says celebrity sari draper Dolly Jain. Kolkata-based Dolly has been in the field for 20 years, and rose to fame with her online sari tutorials and workshops. She now travels the world to drape saris for brides. “The sari is the best garment to give shape to the curvy Indian body. It flaunts the right amount, hides the right amount and makes you look sexy, serene, and sensuous, adding value to your personality,” she says. According to Dolly, with the garment, comes power and instant respect. 

Celebrity sari draper Dolly Jain
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Brides who opted for dresses for cocktails, and lehengas for the mehndi are now embracing the sari, according to Dolly. “It is making a comeback,” she says. “Brides are choosing to wear saris for cocktails, pairing them with strapless and off-shoulder blouses, and bralettes. They carry these outfits with confidence.” 

Dolly has draped saris over lehengas, pants, and even skirts for brides. “Some brides even choose to drape two saris,” she notes, talking about a bride who wore saris belonging to her grandmother and mother, together, adding a veil from the groom’s side. “It was her way of remembering the two women who were not there in her life anymore,” says Dolly. 

“People who are sentimental will understand that a sari that is passed down carries a lot of value,” she adds. Another reason that saris are replacing lehengas in weddings is that the latter can be cumbersome to store after the event. “Where will they store the can-can and the heavy skirt? Women feel that the lehenga takes up the space of 50 other items of clothing in their wardrobe. It is expensive as well and brides are looking at investing in an heirloom piece, such as a gold kanjivaram.”

Deepika Padukone in a sari draped by Kalpana Shah
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Dolly has draped for celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Raveena Tandon, Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor, and Isha Ambani. “Working with celebrities has been amazing,” she says. “Their world is very different, what with tons of cameras on them all the time, and dealing with constant stress.” Draping for celebrities comes with a lot of responsibilities as well. “Even if the placement of a single pin goes wrong, I will have to face backlash,” she says, adding that however, things have been smooth over the past two decades for her. “I’m glad I’m getting such opportunities,” she says. 

Dolly is travelling “27 days a month,” but she says she is enjoying every bit of it. She has faced several moments of panic, and she has dealt with a cool head. “Once, a renowned lady in Mumbai had invited me for a draping,” she recalls. “She was getting her hair and make-up done. When I lifted the embroidered sari to pleat it, it felt very light.” To her shock, she found that her client had cut it into two since she felt it was too long for her. With very less time at her disposal, Dolly figured out a way. She draped the two pieces of the sari, which in the end resembled a chic sari and lehenga crossover. 

So, why should a bride pick a sari for her big day? 

“If she wants to look her prettiest that day, she has to choose a sari. The garment has to be worn with the sindoor, mehndi, bindi, chudi…all of which she may not wear again. So, she can go all out with a sari on her wedding day,” says Dolly. 

Brides who opted for dresses for cocktails, and lehengas for the mehndi are now embracing the sari
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Dolly grew up admiring her grandma draping a sari. “She wore the Rajasthani seedha pallu style and could drape it in just seven seconds,” she recalls. “Dadi was very particular about not using pins to secure the fabric. She felt that it cut through the threads.” Dolly too knows that pins can damage a sari, and has popularised a technique of inserting a small bead into the safety pin before using it to pin up the pleats. In a video tutorial, she explains how this will prevent the sari from getting stuck inside the pin, a common grouse. 

Dolly prefers to wear the garment in a free-flowing fashion, letting the pallu free, without the pleats. “I wear a lot of handloom saris and this way, the weaver’s expertise gets noticed,” she says. 

Mumbai-based Kalpana Shah is among the most senior sari drapers in India. She can be considered to be a frontrunner of the trend. She has draped saris for celebrities including Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, and Anushka Sharma. “The sari is always in; it is evergreen,” says Kalpana, who is trained in Bharatanatyam. She travels across the country for weddings, also holding sari draping workshops in cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru. Today, many of Kalpana’s students are professional sari drapers themselves. She was among the first stylists to appear on TV shows for sari draping tutorials. 

Kalpana says that young brides these days prefer a tight drape, one that is figure-hugging. “They want to show some waist,” she says. The heavy wedding silk, she says, is not easy to drape. “Which is why I take time to iron the pallu and tummy pleats well,” she says, adding that she keeps the sari pre-pleated at least 30 minutes before it is to be draped.  
Kalpana has always been fond of make-up and dressing up. “In my family, everyone would want me to apply make-up and drape saris for people at functions,” she recalls. She gradually started draping saris for a charge, starting with ₹300 in 1988. 

Through word-of-mouth referral, she got the opportunity to drape for Aishwarya Rai in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. “Designer Nita Lulla encouraged me to drape for people in the film industry back then,” she says, adding that Madhu Sapre was the first model she draped for. “I kept researching for ways to style the sari to make it appealing to the present generation,” she says. 

A wedding sari pre-pleated by Swathi Sundarrajan who is based in Salem.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Kalpana is fond of the retro style drape, also known as the Mumtaz style, in which when the sari is brought around the waist the second time, it is done so by pulling it up till the ankle before tucking it in. The result is the appearance of two borders, a style popularised by actor Vyjayanthimala. “Young brides are attempting styles such as these, and are also draping saris over leggings and jeans,” she says. 

“Most brides, however, prefer the traditional drape,” says Kalpana, who has written the coffee table book The Whole 9 Yards: How To Wear An Indian Sari. 

While some brides hire sari drapers, some others choose to get their saris pre-pleated. This gives them the freedom to drape their saris themselves. Several pre-pleating and box folding services have come up in cities such as Chennai and Coimbatore, that turn the sari into something that is ready-to-wear. 

“The bride can drape the sari in just a few steps; all she has to do is tuck in the pleats,” says Swathi Sundarrajan, a pre-pleating expert based in Salem. Swathi is sought after by brides in cities such as Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune, who courier their saris to her. “I also request for a photo and their measurements, after which I set out to do the pallu, hip, and chest pleats,” she explains. She then does what is known as ‘box folding’. “Pre-pleating picked up in a big way over the past two years,” she says. 

The trend is an off-shoot of the practice of pleating the pallu the night before a function. “I used to do that during my college days. This will make it easier for me to drape the sari the next morning,” she says, adding that she would also do this for her friends in her college hostel. Swathi also travels to Puducherry and Bengaluru every month to conduct workshops on sari pleating and draping. She has people of all ages attending her workshops. “There are brides-to-be, mothers who want to drape better for themselves and their daughters, and also make-up artistes,” says Swathi: “Everyone wants to drape the sari perfectly.” It might not be easy, but with a little help, can be mastered.

Aabid Khan Kayamkhani is overcome with emotion at the loss of some of the finest works in the havelis of Nawalgarh. As a tour guide, he gives visitors a quick lesson in the place’s history and art. One such haveli has been painted over in cream and pink, leaving a mere door and the space around it as a reminder of the lost art.

“We grew up hearing about and seeing the artwork of these havelis. Our generation has seen this place become this wonderful centre of art. There is no other place in the world that can match Nawalgarh’s havelis,” says Aabid, who also works as a location liaison for movie and OTT shooting crews.

The lit-up inner courtyard of Podar Haveli Museum
| Photo Credit:
Garima Verma

His sentiment might seem amplified but it was his ancestors who stood witness to the history of the region for four centuries before Thakur Nawal Singh founded Nawalgarh in the Jhunjhunu district of the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. It was a Chauhan prince, Rana Karamchand, who converted to Islam in 1356 under the rule of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, became Kayam Khan and thus, began a community called Kayamkhani, which followed both Rajput and Muslim traditions. Their weddings, thus, had both pheras and nikah.  

When Nawalgarh came into being in 1737, the Marwari community flocked to it, making it one of the most affluent places over time. Many well-known Marwari business families, like Jaipurias, Goenkas, Jiwrajkas, Khaitans, Morarkas, Podars, Seksarias, and others have roots in Nawalgarh. And, during the 18th-19th centuries, these wealthy businessmen and merchants built multi-storeyed, multi-courtyard mansions that even put many palaces to shame with their craftsmanship.  

Sone ki dukan haveli’s work, Mahansar
| Photo Credit:
Garima Verma

The frescoes and murals that adorn every inch of these havelis are nothing short of archives, depicting the families’ wealth, travels, beliefs, and daily life. The paintings done on wet plaster or limestone, eight to 10 feet in height, are called frescoes, colloquially called aala-gila. Above that, the paintings on dry plaster, are murals. The scenes range from Hindu epics, Krishna’s raasleela being a favourite, the region’s royalty, European culture and cities, to new technology of the time like trains, telephones, airplanes.  

Boasting of the region’s highest concentrations of painted havelis — close to 200, Nawalgarh is indeed one the most stunning living-art open air galleries in the world. In the mid-1900s Anandilal Podar Trust and MR Morarka-GDC Rural Research Foundation started the town’s restoration story with the Podar and Morarka havelis respectively. A few years later these specimens of Persian, Jaipur and Mughal school of paintings were opened as museums.  

Murals depicting scenes of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and more, above the courtyard door
| Photo Credit:
Garima Verma

And, with small towns and their architecture and culture now being the new hot destinations for Bollywood and OTT directors, the team of Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri,  starring Kartik Aryan and Ananya Pandey, also found its way to Nawalgarh in July 2025. Abid helped with the location scouting and permissions. Kartik stayed at the newly-restored Vivaana Museum Hotel, and even shared a sneak-peek of it on social media. Once belonging to the Jaipuria family, it was recently brought to life by Atul Khanna, a Delhi-based entrepreneur and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) governing council member. He is also credited with restoring and turning two havelis in Old Delhi’s Sita Ram Bazaar into cultural centres. But it was right here in Shekhawati’s Churi Ajitgarh that this journey started for him almost a decade back with 19th century twin havelis, now Vivaana culture hotel. 

“Architecture plays a crucial role in storytelling. Every building, with its unique elements and artefacts, has a story to tell, of its past and its people. And, having grown up in the lanes of Purani Dilli with a lot of nostalgia, saving the heritage of the country was always a goal,” shares Atul, while leading the tour of the Shekha museum on the ground floor of the one-of-its-kind museum-cum-hotel.  

Meeting of era- Mahabharat’s game of chausar, Rajasthan’s royalties and a train in Podar Haveli.
| Photo Credit:
Garima Verma

Full of pieces showcasing the region’s culture and history, tribes and nomads of Rajasthan, antiques, a wall introducing all to little-known Molela terracotta art from Rajsamand, many of them are a result of Atul’s passion for collecting antiques. “I am a proud kabadiwalla (scrap dealer),” he quips, adding, “But all this heritage needs to be saved for the future generations. Restoring these havelis and art might be a painstaking process, but these are the heirlooms that need to survive.”  

A reason why just a stone’s throw away, three havelis belonging to the Jhalan family, a Goenka home, and a few more are enjoying a new lease of life. The first one of the three has been restored using the close-to-original vegetable and mineral colours. The bright blue rightly highlights the murals depicting scenes from Lord Krishna’s life as it plays host to a similar video shoot. While the second one has lost just a bit of its former glory and serves as the family’s vacation house, it is the third one converted into a trust school that has lost most of its frescoes and murals to modern paint. “That haveli had one of the finest works, and that is what makes me cry,” Aabid says. 

The double storeyed courtyard of Morarka Haveli Museum.
| Photo Credit:
Garima Verma

The dual-courtyard Goenka house might be a shinier version of its former self, all ready to host the now Mumbai-based family, but opposite it fifth-generation Runthla is waiting for enough economy to start reinstating his home and its art. But painter Bhairun Lal Swarnakar is happy to see more and more joining the list. The 75-year-old worked tirelessly for almost a decade on the Podar haveli’s murals numbering hundreds.  

“There is still some work left. I will restart soon,” says the Bhilwara-based multi-awardee Bhairun, an expert in miniature, pichwai, and other forms. “I started in 1995 with recreating or finishing murals on the spaces where the plaster had fallen off on the outer walls of the haveli. And, it makes me happy to see that many people are making efforts to restore more and more havelis now. Just that I wish the new generation of the painters were taught the art of making the traditional colours, and using stuff like geru (Indian red earth), kajal (natural kohl), khadiya (clay)… The process is time-consuming but those colours survive and keep their original tint for a longer time.” 

Still, it seems the journey that started with the Podar and Morarka havelis is slowly and steadily finding new storytellers, and while some are basking in their all-new glory, Nawalgarhs’s streets are dotted with many still waiting to be rescued. Perhaps soon! 

How to reach: Though Nawalgarh has a railway station, it is best reached by road. Approximately 250 kilometres from Delhi; takes around six hours.  

What else to do: A day trip to Mandawa, Fatehpur, Ramgarh (the 150-year-old cenotaph, called Ramgopal Podar Chhatri, has a ceiling full of intricate murals, including Krishna’s mahaaraas), and Mahansar (its Sone Ki Dukaan haveli is undoubtedly the finest work in the entire region; many inspired by traditional Persian carpets, with a lot of golden highlights). 

Shilpa Rao still remembers the first time she heard ‘Tose Naina’ (Anwar, 2007),her first break in Bollywood as a playback singer. Mithoon sang it to her on a harmonium, without arrangements or embellishment. “When a song can be stripped of everything and still sound beautiful, you know it has something honest in it,” she says. The recording, she remembers, was done in two parts. “The first was a scratch. But Manish Jha ended up liking it, so it became the final.” The song slowly found its audience and went on to become a cult favourite. “It was done in a very organic way; we didn’t think of any returns from it,” says the singer who was recently in Chennai to perform at a cultural fest.

After almost twenty years in the music industry with songs across languages, Shilpa also had a phase when songs did not work out. The key, she believes, lies in separating music from the business of music. “You feel bogged down because probably you think, what do I do after this?” she says. Rejection, she says, is inevitable. “It’s human to feel rejected. But the trick is how long you linger in it.” What audiences do not see is the work that happens between one song and the next. “Endurance is what takes you from one song to the next,” she says.  

It is also one quality she repeatedly returns to while talking about Lata Mangeshkar. “There are two things that people should learn from her,” says Shilpa. “One is the whole form of learning music and keeping the practise going.” The second lesson, she says, is endurance. “To have that kind of a career, to have song after song and constantly being on the job and not doing it for any less — takes a lot of endurance.” Her favourites, though, are from the film Pakeeza. “I love all the songs she’s done in that film.”

Shilpa Rao
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Music across borders

If you have followed her for long enough, Shilpa has always expressed her love for Ghazal, and a video of her singing ‘Gulon Mein Rang Bhare’ sung and composed by the legendary Mehdi Hassan remains a testament to it. “The style, the format, the poetry, the philosophy — it was very charismatic for me…it somehow felt more like home,” says Shilpa.

Her relationship with folk music comes from a similar cultural memory. She spoke about ‘Paar Chanaa De’ that she sang for Coke Studio Pakistan, which garnered quite a lot of admiration from audiences across countries, and how platforms like these are instrumental in presenting folk and regional music to a global platform. “You cannot separate an Indian from folk music. It’s not possible. Even today, our vidai songs are folk songs.” The Indian music scenario, she says, is vast and layered. “We have Hindustani classical, Carnatic music, and folk music, which differ in every region. So there is so much to explore,” says Shilpa. 

Shilpa Rao
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Awards and recognition

A major milestone was when she was awarded the National Award for best playback singer for the song ‘Chaleya’ from the movie Jawan. What makes it even more special is that it was sung alongside Arijit Singh, who recently announced to step down from playback singing. Shilpa’s response is measured and supportive. “We shouldnt be sad. He sang everything for us. Now it’s time for him to sing something for himself. We should support that.”

When asked about whether awards come with added pressure, Shilpa laughs, “You should feel pressure nonetheless. It shouldn’t be because of an award. You should work and try to be better by your own standards. That should never change.” What awards offer, she says, is acknowledgement from peers. “That kind of mutual admiration feels really good,” she adds. 

Outside music, Shilpa finds balance in everyday pleasures. She loves watching tennis. Reading, too, plays an important role. She is currently reading Franz Kafka’s The Trial. “It’s quite a heavy read,” she admits. Over the years, she has returned to writers and poets such as William Shakespeare, WB Yeats, and Charles Bukowski. “These are classics you can read your entire life,” she says.

Food, like music, is also an intrinsic part of her life. Growing up in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, Shilpa takes us through her childhood favourites. “You have to find your own fuchka wala,” she says. “A simple egg roll with nothing over the top and Litti Chokha for sure.”

When asked about what advice she would give young musicians entering the industry today, Shilpa is honest about the challenges. “If I were to start out right now, I would be quite lost myself,” she says. “Do chase the real purpose of music in life. I think it will lead you to something good.”