Clad in a dull green sari, Keerthy Suresh’s Savitri in Mahanati sits quietly in a taxi. She listens as the driver speaks of his daughter’s wedding and his mounting worry of affording it. Upon reaching home, she asks him to wait. Inside, she lifts a worn out purse from beneath her pillow, only to find a few coins clink back. She turns to her once overflowing cupboard with gold, gemstones, and cash, and finds nothing but rows of saris. She selects one — gold zari-laced and lustrous silk sari — slips out the back door, and asks a neighbour to pawn it. Then, she presses a thick bundle of notes into the driver’s hands and smiles — her kindness wrapped in silk and her downfall traded in silence.
This scene, in the film which earned Keerthy a National Award for Best Actress, lingers long after the credits roll. It lingers for its emotion, but also serves as a quiet reminder that once upon a time a silk sari was wealth itself. Even two decades ago, it could help settle debts or fund a wedding. But today, it’s merely fabric that may or may not draw any returns at all, say retailers, weavers, and pawnbrokers, alike.
To grasp why, one needs to first understand each thread that is used while weaving a silk sari, says AK Rajan, a weaver who owns a thari (loom) in Kumbakonam. Every thread in a silk sari is not just a single strand, but a union of fine filaments of silk, entwined with threads dipped in gold and silver. These are spun together, layer after layer, to form a single thread. It is from the careful weaving of thousands of such threads that a silk sari comes to life, he explains.
“Within the industry, we refer to the amount of gold or silver on threads as ‘touch’. So if someone says 75 or 80 per cent touch, then it means that the threads have higher levels of gold or silver,” Rajan says, adding that the touch levels have stooped to a new low. “Most of the silk saris that weavers are making today only have 38 to 40 per cent touch against 75 to 80 per cent touch twenty years ago. If we weave based on individual orders where the customer has a good budget and is purchasing directly from us, the touch will go up to 50 to 55 per cent. But not above that mark,” Rajan confesses.
M Karnan, a silk sari pawnbroker from Chennai who melts zari to recover metal, paints an even grim picture. “Many customers argue that they purchased pure zari silk saris for say `3 lakh or `5 lakh. But upon examining those saris, we only find 15 to 20 per cent touch,” he says. He also adds that he has refused to take back saris that have less than 10 per cent touch. “It is not profitable for us and many people bring such saris to us, claiming that they purchased it for `1.5 lakh. But they are just chemical stained saris,” Karnan says.
While many retailers may not disclose this to their customers, Goutham Muthuvel, a third-generation sari retailer from Tiruchy, says otherwise. “What is referred to as ‘touch’ by weavers is also commonly known as pulli among retailers,” he says and adds, “If the sari is less than 10 pulli we tell our customers that it is tester zari (copper threads coated with a very thin layer of gold) and is not pure. Since 30 to 40 pulli zari saris are what we regularly get from weavers now, we can’t call it kalapadam (adulteration). It has become the norm and they are sadly the pure zaris of today.”
‘Profitless to weave’
To bring sheen to the saris, make the motifs standout, and for the wearer to get compliments, weavers take about a week’s time to handweave one pure zari silk sari. The process starts with preparing the threads, mapping out the design, dyeing and drying the threads, weaving the sari, and drying it once again before folding and boxing it away for a customer. “This means that in one thari, only four to five pure silk saris are made in a month’s time. That too, only in the summer. Monsoons make it challenging since the threads and the saris cannot be sun-dried,” says Goutham who purchases saris from weavers for his retail business. This makes the craft-heavy business, compensate the craftspeople inadequately.
Rajan breaks it down further. “We buy raw silk from Bengaluru. One kilogram of raw silk costs us between seven to eight thousand rupees. When we wash it in hot water with washing soda, it reduces in weight to 700 grams. So then one gram of silk’s cost works out to `10. Then we add dyeing charges to it.” he says. In addition to this, for pure zari, silver’s cost itself can drive up the price of saris significantly. “One gram of silver is `125. For a sari with a small zari border alone, we need around 50 grams of silver,” he adds.
Twenty-five years ago, at his thari, Rajan reports, they were only weaving pure zari saris with high levels of touch. “Now it’s only order based, sold directly to customers. It comes with the GI (Geographical Indication) tag, signifying its authenticity,” he says.
For tharis where middlemen are involved, the labour compensation is delayed due to credit. Goutham says that several retailers like him, purchase saris from tharis with a credit window of alteast three months. “This makes it even more difficult for weavers because the business rides heavily on investment,” he adds.
The demand curve
While many enjoy the feel of royalty that comes with wearing a silk sari, the demand for pure zari silk saris have reduced significantly among Millennials and Gen-Z, Goutham notes. He only purchases a maximum of ten pure zari saris every quarter, owing to bridal purchases. Weavers agree that pure zari is only opted by a few brides. “Only a couple of silk enthusiasts buy pure zari for non-bridal usage. People would rather invest in stocks and gold,” Goutham believes.
He also delves into how silk saris worn by Kollywood actors like Nayanthara and Jyothika are imitated with art silk and tester zari out of sheer demand to make them affordable. “The silk sari that Jyothika wore to the Ambani wedding was such a craze that I stocked up imitation saris and they were selling out quickly. I might have one or two more pieces left on the shelves. The actor must have spent lakhs on that sari but you can buy this tissue silk imitation at a price as low as `15 thousand,” he laughs.
Does this mean a pure zari silk sari is no longer within reach? Not quite. Among retailers, Karnan says that the highest touch of pure zari is noticed in saris purchased from Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC). “The touch in their saris is as high as 62 per cent. More than 50 per cent touch is also noticeable in some silk saris purchased from Khadi India (established under the Government of India),” Karnan informs.
In Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, weavers are still willing to create such saris, but only if fairly compensated and given the time that this craft truly demands.