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9:32 AM Let's do the dhoti twist

Did you know that dhotis came into existence during the end of the second century? In fact, it’s reported that dhotis were seen adorning the sculptures of Amaravati of the Satavahana dynasty. The dhoti, considered to be formal wear now, is usually sported by men during weddings and special social occasions. Almost every other state drapes the seven-yard cloth in different styles and interestingly, it has several names like the panche, mundu, laacha, dhotar for different states. Even a few years back, the dhoti was more of a regular wear for men but not so anymore. Nowadays, it’s looked upon by countless young men as a cumbersome wear, leave alone wishing to be seen it. But that’s not the case with all — the wish to keep the attire alive still remains and a handful of men still want to keep the style alive, albeit, with a dash of glamour. What’s without mentioning image consultant Prasad Bidapa while writing about dhotis? He is one of the most stylish people in the city who can carry it off with great élan. In fact, he took us by surprise when he mentioned that he can actually drape a dhoti in five different styles. "Like how we have saris for women, it’s the dhoti for an Indian man. Since it requires no tailoring, we can also drape it differently. I can tie them in the Bengali, Andhra, Maharashtra, Gujarati and Rajasthani styles,” informs Prasad. Prasad rues about the fact that Bangalore cannot yet boast of any designer who’s into making dhotis and hence, he’s got to travel all the way to a textile factory in Kolkata to take his pick. "As they are made of fine cotton, I prefer getting it from there. Kolkata-based designer, Sharbari Dutta has been making interesting dhotis for many years now and I strongly recommend her collection for those interested,” he says. Of course, a little different in style, we have the lungis that fall under the same category of dhotis and is also quite interesting. Singer and composer Raghu Dixit just cannot do without his colourful lungis, even when he’s out for a performance. "We are a band who performs contemporary and folk music. Apart from the typical kurta-pyjama and kurtis teamed with jeans, we decided to bring in a unique and desi twist and opted for colourful lungis,” he explains, adding, "It is one of the most comfortable clothing that I’ve ever worn. Apart from wearing it just for occasions, a lungi is one of those outfits that one can twist whichever way they want to.” Pairing it with kurtis and accessorising it with junk jewellery is his favourite combination, he informs. Nevertheless, the traditional attire doesn’t seem to interest the generation of today. To give them a taste of what they want, dhotis have been given a fashionable twist and what has emerged is the dhoti pants, that’s taking the fashion scene on a twirl. Mostly preferred by youngsters, this attire is usually seen paired with tees or ganjis. Talking about this new avatar, actor Tilak Sekar says, "For me, dhotis are restricted only for special occasions, but dhoti pants will definitely interest the current generation. I have tried wearing them for one of the Ramesh Dembla’s shows too. Wearing dhotis with waistcoats is also an interesting way to contemporarise the dhoti,” he suggests. Talking about dhotis and the twists that it has undergone, designer Lokessh Ahuja says, "Only a person like Prasad Bidapa can carry off a dhoti in style. He has a fabulous fashion sense and drapes it in different ways too. But now, dhotis have become associated with traditional wear and hardly, if ever, one sees them being worn on a regular basis. In fact, even the one that comes with elastic bands is not very impressive a lot of times.”

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