Aishwarya’s Prince Charming

After weaving silken charm for Amitabh Bachchan and hazel-eyed Aishwarya Rai in reel life, a master weaver family of this 'silk city' has woven signature golden fantasy to dress up Abhishek Bachchan for his marriage.

Come April 19 -- the date for much awaited Ash-Abhishek marital union -- and Junior Bachchan will wear an unrivalling golden Sherwani,' the fabric for which has been weaved by the 400-year-old family of master weavers -who have been in this profession since past four centuries of this city famous for signature Banarasi sarees.

''We received an order for the costly Chaodani fabric from our business associates Kay Sons in Churchgate (Mumbai) last November.

The owner of the Mumbai based design and tailoring house Gullu Babu asked us to be extra careful while weaving the fabric as it was meant for stitching an exclusive sherwani for Abhishek Bachchan to be worn at marriage with Aishwarya,'' the head of the master weaver family Abdul Matin said on Tuesday.

Two month back Gullu Babu himself trouped down to our unit in Peeli Kothi locality here to take the fabric for the ''treasured'' sherwani likely to cost anywhere between Rs two to Rs five lakh.

The owner of 500 handlooms Mr Matin, who claims to head the only weaver family which weaves the 'Chaodani' style fabric in the world said ''it is after a gap of two decades that the golden fabric with a base of warped silk has been woven for anyone.''

Interestingly, the master weaver family which does business as Noorul Hasan Abdul Matin and Company Pvt Ltd has in the past not only sourced out pure silken fabric handloomed for costumes worn by Big B Amitabh Bachchan in 'Khuda Gawah,' but also the blouse and lehenga worn by Aishwarya in the chartbuster number 'Kajrare' in Shaad Ali's 'Bunty aur Bubbly.'

The cent per cent handloomed silken fabric has also decked up other film stars, including Shahrukh Khan's sherwani fashioned by master weaver's 'kinkhab' fabric, Aamir Khan's sherwani for a watch advertisement and bubbly Urmilla Matondkar's silken sartorials in Punkaj Parashar's 'Banaras.'

The master weaver family which received the coveted Handloom-Handicraft 'Hastshilpa' award from President Kalam last year claims to have woven silken magic for royal families of Britain, Bhutan and Saudi Arabia too.

Besides, these weavers have provided silk fabric to a host of top-notch designers including Neeta Lulla, Rohit Bal and Manish Arora.

''Off late, a scarlett coat worn by a hot shot model in the ongoing Will India Fashion Week was made from fabric woven by us. But the imperial offering woven for Abhishek's sherwani represents that fabric which has only been worn by royal families in the past,'' Mr Matin added.

Interestingly, 'Jalans' -- a Banarasi Saree showroom of Varanasi had a few months back claimed to have secured the order from the Bachchans for dressing up Aishwarya on the marriage day in an 'Anmol' silken Lehenga costing Rs two lakh.

The manager of the showroom Vishnu Jalan when contacted today claimed the order has already been delivered to the filmy family last month.