Alia Bhatt sits decked in the middle of a wedding set, her bridal trousseau and costumes on point, adding to her already gorgeous appeal. Then as the lights of the make-do set shift to mimic theatre effects, Alia Bhatt can be seen speaking of the traditional perspectives of having a girl child in India.
Touching at the terminologies usually associated with daughters in traditional Indian families, such as paraya dhann (another’s treasure), chidiya (a bird because who is expected to find her nest and home elsewhere because her parents’ home is not considered hers), she is seen speaking pensively into the camera — even as she indulges her parents, smiling back when her mum lightly asks her to or taking a selfie with her dad — wondering why daughters are “given away” as is wont in the land’s culture.
While wedding ceremonies end with the traditional kanyadaan ceremony where the parents of the daughter bring their right hands to hold their child’s in a symbolic gesture denoting that they’re respectfully giving away their girl to her husband’s family, in the bridal wear brand’s ad, the kanyadaan is combined with kanyamaan (respect for the girl) when the bridegroom’s parents bring in their hand to hold not also their son’s but also their would-be daughter-in-law’s.
