India, Jan. 17 -- With the rise of globalised Indian pop culture in the '80s, the ease of bindis was split between two extremes in Bollywood: hyper-traditional and hyper-stylised. Think of actor Zeenat Aman in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), where the big red bindi functioned to serve a bold mystique vibe, or in 2002, where Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore a crystal bindi in Devdas, serving a traditional feminine role. While in Hollywood, phases of exoticisation took over, where bindis appeared on Western celebrities such as Madonna and Gwen Stefani, stripped of its cultural context and flattened it into a vague spiritual accessory....