When Aishwarya Rai lights up the screen as the Rajput princess Jodhbai in Ashustosh Gowarikar's historical drama, Jodhaa Akbar (2008), it is her jewellery and ornate dress that captivate as much as this former Miss World's beauty. Countless early reviews of the film and blogs by avid moviegoers, whether in India, the United States of America or Britain, highlight the pageantry of costume and sets in this film. Jodhaa blazes onto the screen in a kaleidoscopic palette of colours. She wears heavy ornate red, orange, green, vermilion and yellow silk gaghras and chiffon and oodhanis, while flashing strings of pearl and diamond necklaces, gold naths and jewelled toe rings and amulets. The opulence of royal India, whether that of the imperial Mughal court or the festively decorated palaces of the Rajasthani kingdoms, is as much a leading character in this film as the life stories of the pseudo-historical figures it chronicles.

Even though the princely states officially lapsed with India's Independence in 1947, they remain prominent in the public sphere and cultural life of the postcolonial republic through the filmic medium. Indeed, Bollywood film has reflected from its origins the pageantry and theatre of royal visual splendour in the depiction of ornate textiles, glittering jewels and palatial settings.