India’s most important leading ladies to migrate westward, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, have been pitted against each other yet again, and the people have picked a winner.
The two actresses walked the red carpet for the MET Gala held at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, for which the theme was Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.
Staying true to the theme of the event, Priyanka donned a strapless wine-coloured Ralph Lauren gown with a billowing train paired with a gold chain headdress reminiscent of a medieval knight. Her look was completed with a subtle face of make-up and maroon lips. Her experimental look was well-received by fashion critics.
Meanwhile, people were not as impressed by Deepika's red Prabal Gurung gown with a thigh-high slit. They called her out for not sticking to the theme of the event. Many even took to social media to slam her stylist, Shaleen Nathani for missing the memo. “How is ms. shaleena gonna have the opportunity to dress THE deepika padukone for #MetGala and completly miss the theme? ofc deepika's got a heavenly body and looks amazing in this but rlly??? sign (sic),” wrote one Twitter user.
Though her outfit did not have had any obvious Catholic references, maybe we need to look a little deeper. As defined by Catholic churches, red, the colour of fire, symbolises the presence of God. It is the liturgical colour for the Pentecost and it also symbolises the blood of martyrs. The holy cardinals wear red robes that signify prudence, courage, temperance and justice. Among the other celebrities who chose different hues of red for the occasion were Anne Hathway, Blake Lively, Nicki Minaj, Scarlett Johansson and even Priyanka Chopra!
This is the first time the two actresses are being compared, and the similarities in their professional trajectories are bound to invite comparisons. Both of them began their careers in the south and then went on to become the top leading ladies of Bollywood. After that, they both moved towards the west.
Priyanka was the first of the two to make the move. She worked in the series Quantico, followed by films such as Baywatch and A Kid Like Jake. Deepika worked in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, and is now on the verge of signing her second Hollywood film.
The two were last seen together in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani, in which they played the two wives of Ranveer Singh. Though they have always remained cordial in person and on social media, Deepika was miffed when she was mistaken for Priyanka at an airport in the USA. “To me, it’s racist and ignorant. Just because two people have similar skin tones doesn’t mean they are the same person,” she said at a press conference.
If Padukone wasn’t pleased then, she definitely isn’t going to be pleased now. But this time, we plead in defence of her fashion choices.
—With inputs from Sanskriti Media
