Crostitch.in

Zee Talkies got a bunch of actors to recreate iconic roles in Marathi cinema for its 2013 calendar. The ones in this post are:

Pic 1-Urmila Kanitkar as Shanta Apte in Kunku.

Pic 2-Amruta Khanvilkar as Durga Khote in possibly Rajmukut.

Pic 3-Sonalee Kulkarni as Jayshree Gadkar in Sadhi Mansa.

Pic 4-Mukta Barve as Smita Patil in Jait re Jait.

There are different kinds of handlooms in Maharashtra. I can’t exactly id the sarees but I am guessing Pic 1 is Maheshwari, Pic 2 is Narayanpet (a bit uncertain about this) and Pic 3 and 4 are Ilkal* because of the characteristic pallu. In Pics 1, 3 and 4 the blouse is khan. 

In the pics you can see some of the several styles of bindi in Maharashtra. The first of course is the kumkum/sindoor worn by married women and not specific to Maharashtra.  In Pic 2 you can see the chandrabindu - normally a red crescent with a black dot underneath - which is quite particular to Maharashtra (and maybe parts of Goa and Karnataka).  In Pic 3 is a horizontal red line, also quite specific to Maharashtra.  I canvassed a couple of friends but the only information I have that it possibly worn by rural women and is specific to some castes. A few accounts of Deccan paintings refer to it as chiri. Last up the black designs that used to be worn by tribal women (sometimes these were tattoos).