What Does a Pinch of Sindoor Really Mean?

When Aishwarya Rai made her 22nd appearance at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, draped in an ivory Banarasi silk sari, everyone noticed the usual things. Her dramatic jewelry (over 500 carats of diamonds and rubies). Her poise. And how it was a homecoming for the famed beauty queen, who had debuted on that same carpet in another sari, a golden one for the premiere of Devdas (2002). Still, there was one thing that kept everyone talking: a bright red streak in the middle part of her hair. 

Onlookers were quick to notice that this particular mark of marriage — sindoor, a red powder — is now appearing on red carpets (actor Aditi Rao Hydari, too, donned sindoor at Cannes). But along with praise came rampant speculation. Some believed it was Rai shutting down rumors that her marriage was on the rocks — or a tribute to Operation Sindoor, a military strike that targeted terrorist camps.

What began as a fashion moment has now become a global conversation. When and why did sindoor become so much more?