The wait is over. On this auspicious start of Navratri, the nine-day festival which celebrates Devi Maa Durga, Bollywood showman Sanjay Leela Bhansali revealed the first look of Deepika Padukone as Mewar queen Rani Padmini in his period drama Padmavati.
The filmmaker, who believes the actress is his good luck charm (this is their third film together), has given Deepika unibrows, and he’s adorned her in traditional jewelry from the royal Rajputana family, dressed her in outfits woven in bold, striking colours.
Deepika, who went vivacious and sexy for SLB in Ram-Leela and was beautiful and brave in Bajirao Mastani, comfortably steps into the role of the Rajput royal in Padmavati. Her hands joined in the traditional Mewar khamma-ghani welcome, the bejeweled actress silently welcomes audiences from posters online and in print to the majestic world of Padmavati.
Designer duo Rimple and Harpreet Narula have given Deepika’s Rani Padmini a stunning 14th century look but kept a distinct Sinhalese influence to her regal Rajputani outfits because the queen was originally from Ceylon. Makeup designer Pratisheel Singh had a more difficult task because there weren’t even paintings available from that era to take references from. Still, keeping in mind that Rani Padmini was an extraordinarily beautiful woman, the designer worked on basic and natural ingredients and produced Deepika’s look in 30 minutes flat.
But the visionary behind this amazing makeover of the actress is undoubtedly the taskmaster, National Award winner Sanjay Leela Bhansali himself. He is known to make his actresses beautiful on screen but with Deepika, his latest muse, SLB opted to redefine standard beauty norms and showed her in a non-glamorous yet powerful avatar.
Other intriguing details that capture attention in Padmavati’s first look include a temple set up in the backdrop signifying Rani Padmini’s Rajput descendence and a bunch of women in ghoonghat to remind the viewer of the barbaric yet true story of these women committing jauhar (self-immolation) to protect their honour from the Sultan of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji.
More posters will follow. Shahid Kapoor as Rani Padmini’s husband, Rawal Ratan Singh, and Ranveer Singh as the swashbuckling and plundering antagonist Allaudin Khilji. Meanwhile, after a string of controversies that threatened to delay Padmavati interminably, the poster announces the biopic’s release on December 1. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is ready to brave the box office battle at his favourite time of the year.
