‘Mala shari will forever remain Mala shari’

'Mala shari na diley biya bomu na' (I won't get married without a Mala shari) – from 1968 to the early 1980s, this line in Dhakaiya Bangla was not just a part of a jingle, it stood real for weddings across Bangladesh.

Back then, Banarasi or Katan sharis were not made in the country and the ones imported from India or Pakistan were quite expensive. Compared to them, Mala shari, made by Anwar Silk Mills, was much more affordable. 

The price at the beginning was Tk300-Tk450, and it gradually increased to Tk1,400-Tk1,500. Even then it was cheaper compared to imported sharis. 

At the height of its fame, especially in rural areas, very few weddings took place without Mala shari being a part of it. From Kamalapur in Dhaka to Chattogram, every rail station had a large billboard of the product. 

It was made with nylon and rolex zari. The colours were bright red, pink, purple, blue etc. Against a vibrant background, the sparkling golden and silver zari flowers (with rainbow-coloured bits also known as meena work) and stripes could be spotted from miles away.

Mala shari was durable, lightweight, and did not require any special washing or storage method. Although mostly brides wore it, bridesmaids and other guests wore it too. Women were known to wear this shari during college or university programmes as well. 

For almost 15 years, it ruled the market before counterfeit products began to pour in, and polyester yarn became more popular than nylon. As times began to change, customer preference changed alongside and demand began to fall. Around 1982, the production was stopped. 

Today, Mala shari stands almost as a cultural icon. Although he built many successful businesses, Anwar Hossain of the Anwar Group of Industries is forever known as 'Mala sharir Anwar' (Mala shari's Anwar) to Bangladeshi people. 

The history behind Anwar Silk Mills

In 1954, at the age of 16, Anwar Hossain bought round-trip air tickets with Tk44 and went to Kolkata. He saw the high-quality Indian fabrics and it deeply disturbed him when he thought about the poor state of Bangladesh's clothing industry. 

At that time, Japanese fabrics were extremely popular in the country and customers rarely preferred the deshi materials. Fabrics from as far as England were brought into the country's market, negatively impacting the local clothing industry. 

He wrote in his book 'Amar aat doshok' (My Eight Decades), "I took up three challenges: first, I will reduce our dependence on imported products, second, I will meet the consumer demand, and third, compete with foreign fabrics."

In 1956, the journey of 'Famous Printing Mills' began at his own house. He bought local fabrics, dyed them, and using his designs, made sharis out of them. These sharis, which were named 'Famous Print Sharis,' became very popular. 

Soon, others were inspired by his idea and began to market local sharis using the same method. After a while, the quality of local fabrics increased. 

In 1956, while visiting some cities in Pakistan, Anwar Hossain came up with the idea of importing clothes from Karachi. He began to import fabrics such as voile, poplin, georgette, chiffon etc. 

By 1960, he was a successful importer and a renowned businessman across Pakistan. But he wanted more, he wanted to establish a mill or a factory. 

"I had already bought some land in Tongi Industrial Area, and decided to start my first mill there. Tongi was a desolate area back then; my staff had to remove huge guishaaps [monitor lizards], each four to five feet tall, from the factory premises," he wrote in his book. 

Anwar Silk Mills began its journey in 1968. The Famous Print Sharis began to be sold under a new name – Mala. The demand was so high that the factory had to be operated on shifts even on Eid days.  

As others recall Mala shari

Anwar Hossain's son and the Managing Director of the Textile Division at Anwar Group of Industries, Hossain Mehmood shared with us that Bangladesh's first moving advertisement was of Mala shari. "Before the Liberation War, the ad was in Urdu with Pakistani actors. After the war, the ad was recreated with Bangladeshi actors." 

He said that at one time, years after Mala shari's production was stopped, they wanted to make an archive and searched for a few copies of the original product. "One of our GMs got us a shari worn by his mother on her wedding day. It still looked the same."

The values and emotions behind Mala shari are deeply embedded in Anwar Hossain's family. The name also comes from his second daughter, Selina Begum Mala. 

Was it the case that he loved her the most and so, chose her name for his famous brand? 

To this question, Mehmood broke into a laugh and replied, "No, no it was nothing like that. We think he loved his first daughter, our sister Shahin, the most! But really, Mala shari just sounded catchy, that's all." 

Mehmood's younger brother, Hossain Khaled's wife Anika wore a Mala shari on their Akhd, the beautiful gesture almost made Anwar Hossain cry.  

Executive Director of Anwar Group of Industries, M A Hannan, has been with the company since its initial days. He said that one day, they went to a village with Anwar Hossain and the residents could not recognise him. Only after he was introduced as 'Mala sharir Anwar,' he was happily welcomed by all. 

From Dhaka's Islampur, the products went all over Bangladesh. "Our stocks would run out all the time. Every last product would be sold in seconds at the shops," said Hannan.  

Customer feedback was important and the designs were changed all the time. Anwar Hossain himself was involved with it. "Suppose someone said the rose patterns needed to be bigger, or smaller, we listened and tried to incorporate it into our next batch etc," he said. 

The product was experimented with as well. For example, for a while, Mala shari came with blouse pieces but it could not be continued. The zari work was difficult for tailors to work with.

Mala shari had other competitors like Kamal er Rimjhim shari (Rimjhim shari by Kamal Garments), but nothing could compare with Mala's popularity. 

Ferdousi Jannat, a retired government official, recalled those days when a Bangladeshi wedding was incomplete without a Mala shari. "It was shiny and colourful, and the young women absolutely loved it." 

Since it was women's wear, there were female workers involved with its production. After the sharis were made, the extra zari threads had to be trimmed short. There were groups of women who would do only this.

Hannan remembers how the trend began to change in the 1980s and Mala began to lose the race against local sharis from Tangail and Mirpur. "As you can see, now women prefer comfortable sharis. Nylon and zari were not as comfortable as cotton or other soft materials." 

Even before this, counterfeit products were made by others, leading to a damaged reputation for Mala shari. "It was not like a sabotage or anything, it was just human nature you see. Since Mala was doing so well, others began to copy it. But we had 180 looms whereas people with one or two looms were making these copies."

Of course, the qualities varied but it also began to hurt their reputation. These copies were also priced lower than Mala shari. The name Mala was patented but at that time, it was difficult for them to do anything to stop the copying, said Mehmood. 

Inspiring the new generation 

Vermilion, a renowned fashion house in Dhaka, tried to recreate some old, traditional sharis using their own thoughts and designs under a project titled 'Parampara' (Heritage), which they started during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

They aimed to introduce these traditional sharis to the new generation and tell them the stories behind each. "After all, every shari tells a story," said Imtiaj Rasel, the brand's co-founder. 

His sister Ferdous Ara (also a co-founder of Vermilion) found a Mala shari by chance in her almirah. It was a beautiful combination of white and gold, and belonged to her mother-in-law. 

"We could not believe our luck when we saw it. The zari work was so perfect, even after all these years," he said. His wife, Iffat Ara, another co-founder, found more samples in her mother's stock.

With these samples and the help of weavers, after a lot of experiments, they made some sharis. As Imtiaj shared with us, to keep the authenticity of Mala shari intact, they did not copy the original designs. Rather, they used the same process and material and created designs of their own.

In fact, they also named it Khushbul, as it is the name of Ferdous Ara's mother-in-law.  

At first, they created a red version and posted pictures online. Overnight, they received orders for almost 100 copies. 

Imtiaj shared with us that as they started working during the pandemic, they could not contact Anwar Group and let them know of their project. 

"They [Anwar Group] are extremely kind, as we have heard. We always felt they would appreciate our work. Moreover, we did not copy the original designs, but rather created our version using the same material and process. Mala shari will forever remain Mala shari," he said.