Veteran actress Asha Parekh said she finds it hurtful that Indian women prefer to wear western dresses and gowns for their weddings instead of traditional dresses. Speaking at a session at the ongoing 53rd International Film Festival of India in Goa, Asha said, “Everything has changed (since the time when she worked in films). The films that are being made are …I do not know, we are so westernised. Gowns pehen ke wedding pe aa rahi hain ladkiyan. Arre bhaiya, humeri ghaghra choli, saurian aur salwar-kameez hai aap wo pehno na (Dear, we have ghaghra-choli, salwar-kameez and saris, wear those).”
She added, “Why don't you wear those? They just watch the heroines on the screen (and wish to copy them). Screen pe dekh ke wo jo kapde pehen rahe us tarah ke kapde hum bhi pehnenge …mote ho, ya jo, hum wahi phnenge. Ye western ho raha hai mujhe dukh hota hai (They just want to wear the clothes they see heroines wearing onscreen. Even if they are fat or whatever, they do not care if the clothes will look good on them, whether they are fat or anything. I get hurt when I see this westernisation). We have a such a great culture, dance and music we could get it all back in pop culture.”
Asha also addressed the rumour that she did not like Dilip Kumar, which was why she never worked with him. “Four-five years ago, some press gentleman wrote that I did not work with him (Dilip Kumar) because I did not like Dilip Kumar. I adored him and always wanted to work with him. There was a film called 'Zabardast' which I signed with him. We were supposed to work together but I was unlucky and the movie got shelved.”
