‘The Rivaah Brides of Bombay’ has been revealed by Tanishq, which is India’s most trusted and adored jeweler company. A unique client connection and a tailored strategy in which Tanishq‘s chosen customers become the brand’s face in Bombay.
Rivaah by Tanishq’s whole Maharashtrian bridal trousseau collection has been painstakingly created and skillfully crafted to mirror the rich, timeless traditions that decorate the Marathi bride and make her feel cherished on her special day.
The Rivaah Brides of Bombay movement was created to honor actual Bombay brides who wore the Maharashtrian bridal trousseau.
Tanishq asked brides-to-be and married women between the ages of 20 and 40 to participate in the first phase because we wanted to give them all the chance to experience being a Rivaah bride, complete with all of their bridal finery and, of course, their favorite Rivaah By Tanishq jewelry.
Tanishq wanted to create and recreate a very special memory for her as a Rivaah Bride by creating and recreating a very distinctive bridal gown and trousseau. Each of them looked like a dream, dressed in traditional Paatihaar, Shitahaar, Chandbaali, Jhumkas, RaniHaar, Nath, Hathphool, Bala, Churi, Chur, Mantasa, Khadu, Sankha.
The 60 finalists for the finale event were chosen over two weeks, with over 455 people auditioning for Rivaah Brides of Bombay. The 30 contestants chosen from a pool of 60 in the last round for the Grand Finale also walked down the ramp, creating several memorable moments.
Tanishq hosted the Grand Finale for ‘The Brides of Bombay’ on Christmas at Hotel Renaissance, Powai with 10 Finalists.
Here the top 10 customers from Bombay were announced as the winners of ‘The Rivaah Brides – Bombay’ following rigorous rounds of ramp walk, exclusive bridal photoshoot, followed by a Question and Answer round over the previous few weeks.
The ten winners will be Tanishq’s face in the state for a year, with their photographs appearing on social media, outdoor, and banners.
Mr. Mohit Rodeja, Regional Business Manager, Tanishq – West, said that At Tanishq, the members are not just about selling jewelry, but are also about keeping the client relations at the core of all actions. Rivaah Brides Bombay is one such particular endeavor aimed at offering the best to our consumers by accompanying them on their journey and becoming a part of it. It’s a tiny effort on their part to make all of the brides’ wedding memories last a lifetime. They believe that our customers are their true brand ambassadors, and it will be an honor to have real Rivaah brides representing Tanishq in Bombay.
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I was one of the 60 finalists and one of the many ill treated. The event was a total disaster as they had already given the best of everything to 10 selected women. The rest of us weren’t treated with respect.
Tanishq ..a global luxury brand can stoop so low, one can could have never even imagined.
Mr . Mohit Rodeja have you really found the true 10 Bombay brides . I found the event was totally rigged .
Everything was planned you guys made community bride look more beautiful and other tanishq customers made to look like their distant relatives . Is this the way you treat Tanishq clients . Contestant in your show was knowing question that going to be asked by jury much before the event.
You guys showed that you selected community bride on the spot but they had proper fitting outfits entire bridal couture for them only preference given to 10 brides .
Others were given sarees which were not ironed , threads were coming out no bangles no hair do …
And you think you played fair .
It’s disgusting to see such officials like you working at Tanishq .
I was one of the 60 finalists and one of the many ill treated. The event was a total disaster as they had already given the best of everything to 10 selected women. The rest of us weren’t treated with respect. We went through humiliation.
Tanishq ..a global luxury brand can stoop so low, one could have never even imagined.
I was a part of top 60 .. this ia what has happened:
1) There was priority given to few contestants on the day for eg. 10 participants were made to dress as Community brides and they were given the best makeup & outfits. Along with that, we observed that all of those 10 were selected for the top 30 in the first go. Furthermore, the initial communication that all contestants will wear sarees, changed, why? Were the judges aware that the top ten community brides were selected randomly by Tanishq & Tanishq gave special attention to only these 10? And some were given lehenga and few were given sarees?
2) We remember being told, when we came in for measurements, that while we go for our first walk, our photoshoot pictures will be displayed on the screen and the MC will introduce us, the same intro which the Tanishq team had pressured us to write then and there, after the briefing. Why was the same not displayed/ put into action? What do you look for in a contestant? Looks? If that was the criteria for the first round, why have a competition? Although looking good is not in our hands, makeup can still do wonders except, the makeup artists were asked to do basic makeup for some and not proper bridal make up, why?
3) Why were the majority of us made to look like guests/ bridesmaids who come at a wedding and not brides which apparently seemed to be the whole gist of the show? Why weren’t the other brides provided with elegant pieces of jewellery like nose pins, armlets or kamarpatta if we were also considered as brides, or were we not?
4) We had been called since 10 in the morning, however, the icing on the cake was the lunch, “Sandwiches,” which definitely cannot be sufficient to give us enough energy for the day, until 9-10 in the night. Should our basic needs of food not be the first priority of the team organising the event? Additionally, only 10 mins were provided to eat & then we were made to wait for hours to get make up & hair done. Preciously, 3 hours, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. was taken to meet the hair & make up needs of the first 10 contestants who were the community brides, why? Please justify by giving a good enough explanation to all of us, who suffered humiliation, at the hands of team Tanishq.
The event seemed preempted which was made pretty obvious even before the event officially commenced. We didn’t observe the judges taking down any notes. And how is it humanly possible to decide on the top 30, unanimously, within a span of 2-3 minutes? Sharing the list on whatsapp and calling out the names from an excel sheet. It was conspicuous, so as to speak.
If a list of 30 pre-approved contestants was already ready, then Tanishq could have informed us and we would have happily walked the ramp as extras to display the extremely shabby and unkempt sarees (not ironed, thread coming out, not lined). Differentiating between individuals by giving some participants gorgeous lehengas and others shoddy sarees definitely defeated the whole purpose of a competition.
All in all, unorganised & messy because it seemed as if it was not a “Face of Tanishq” competition, but a fashion show of all products made by Tata, and that too a messy one. Calling 60 people and wasting their time on Christmas Day was uncalled for & totally unworthy.
Without taking anyone’s name, we would also like to bring to light that evidently the Q&A round was also pre-planned. A particular contestant from among the top 10 knew the exact question that she was going to be asked on stage which is hard to swallow as a coincidence. The participant distinctly remembers the chosen contestant asked the question during their transit to Powai, answering the question but also probed for more points to add to her answer. The participant explains, “This came to light when on the day of the competition one of the 10 brides asked me my opinion on the a particular question, later that day I was surprised that she was asked the same question on stage at the event. This could not be a mere coincidence as it was very evident that she wanted to seek advice from me to better her answer to the question…”
We as loyal, tanishq customers invested our energy, time & money. We travelled all the way to Andheri, Powai, all places as requested, at our own expense, & even sacrificed celebrating a day like Christmas, with family & friends, as only 2 family members per participant were allowed for the event. We trusted the brand to be impartial and transparent in everything assuming this event would reflect the Tata group values, but in return we were disrespected & ill treated at the main venue.
Winning or losing was secondary. But, the experience itself was devastating. The way Clara (backstage coordinator) was pressuring the make up artists & hair dressers saying things like “Just make it somehow, don’t put anything. Otherwise we will send them with no hairdo.” & “aap bride nahi ho …aap k liye normal basic makeup . Aapke liye no hair do..no gel nothing ” This was also echoed by the make-up artists, it was communicated backstage, “humko aisa Bola gaya hai”. This wasn’t something we signed up for. We were treated like extras on a show. Do you really think we came all the way to go on stage and be clowns or stand-up comedians for the audience?
A fair competition is when you provide standard outfits, hair and makeup, it should be equally elaborate or not for all participants. 10 brides were undoubtedly given more preference over others, better outfits, heavier jewellery and more time to get their hair and makeup done. Others were not even treated humanely.
Furthermore, not all communities were displayed, the minority of the minority ie. the Zoroastrian (Parsi/ Irani) community which we believe that the Tata family themselves belong to was not even represented. Although there was only one such Parsi contestant from the 60, it would have been nice to see equal representation of all communities. Many such communities like the brides of South India community (Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc), North Eastern, Goan community were also missed out. Mumbai, being a cosmopolitan city, should include brides from all states of culture and religion as part of the Brides of Bombay.
We come from all walks of life and may have spent millions financially investing in jewellery bought from your store. The only thing we ask for in return is a bit of respect, isn’t that something anyone deserves?
In the end when we approached Antara the (Head of customers for Tanishq & main coordinator for this event) on the group chat penning our thoughts and feedback, she responded with the below message, without addressing our concerns:
“As the event has closed yesterday, I would be dissolving the group now. Thank you to every one of you for your great support, your feedback and your understanding . We would be connecting to you individually 🙏🏻”
Even after conveying that we would like to keep in touch with each other, so Antara may exit the group herself and let the participants remain, she removed each and everyone of us. Is this how professionals behave? This is just rude and downright insulting.
Antara has no decency of calling participants herself, individually and is making the store managers speak to each one of us, who not only justified the wrong and then apologised for the mistreatment but also made statements such as “Ma’am, please this is a small mistake don’t make it a big issue.” How can one offend someone & themselves decide, whether the extent of the hurt is massive or insignificant? Also, we never knew apologies are accompanied by ifs and buts and justifications.
We are eminently disappointed by this experience coming from such an esteemed & reputed brand belonging to the Tata group.
We all took time off of our personal and professional commitments and were excited about the event. But no thanks to team Tanishq and poor organisation skills it turned into a nightmare for each one of us. The least Tanishq could do for us now is apologise vehemently and sincerely, compensate us for the bad behaviour, unfair treatment and for wasting our by giving us the same treatment & respect as the top 10 Brides.
All this was just pre-planned and the rest of us were ill treated. They dnt even bother to look at us just focused on the 10 brides from the beginning. We were called just so a show was put up. The day was a nightmare which I will never forget coz my self respect and dignity was targeted at each step. The other 50 of us started realising this nonsense at a later stage where the damage was already done and now they put forward the event like this – these people should be ashamed to even put it publicly.