Chanderi weavers are grateful to Kareena
Young Mohammad Qasim's face lit up at the mention of Kareena Kapoor; the glint in the eyes was redolent of gratitude. This young weaver from Chanderi, the town famous for silk sarees, has pretty good reason to be indebted to the Bollywood star.
Her unexpected sojourn to Chanderi with co-star Amir Khan for promotion of blockbuster "Three Idiots" over two years ago has brought happy tiding for nearly 2000 weaver families. The town in Ashok Nagar district in Madhya Pradesh still resonates with Aamir Khan's well kept promise.
"The visit by the film stars made the black silk saree famous in no time and the demand was so high for that particular saree which Kareena bought that we decided to brand it as Kareena pattern. Till now hundreds of such sarees have been sold," a beaming Qasim said. He has put up a stall at National Handloom Expo organised by Indore Bunkar Seva Kendra, a subsidiary of union ministry of textile.
When Aamir Khan and Kareena left Chanderi they had promised the weavers to help popularise the silk sarees. They kept the promise and the weavers are happy about that. " Women from Indore have shown marked inclination for the Kareena saree. I brought 10 such sarees and some of them are already sold", Qasim gushed.
Expressing gratitude to the film stars for helping weavers' cause, Qasim claimed that the sale of Chanderi silk had gone up almost by 25% immediately after the famous visit. "A large numbers of potential buyers started contacting weavers after the film stars made out place and work popular. Generally a sari Aamir Khan bought costs around Rs 4,000 but the actor insisted that he would rather buy the same at which foreigners buy it'at Rs 25, 000," said Qasim. Aamir later facilitated several orders for Chanderi weavers from buyers in the film industry.
Source: Daily Bhaskar
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