While everyone has been obsessed with comparing and contrasting Bollywood’s leading ladies Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, some even conjecturing (from Karan Johar’s dictionary) about who among the two would take up the crown of Hollywood’s reigning queen; we take a moment to jot down striking similarities in their personalities that have led them to both to success.
Self-Made Women
Neither of them was born into nepotism. We all know that Deepika’s father is an international level badminton player, while her mother is a travel agent. Priyanka’s parents were both physicians in the army, who kept relocating to different places, thanks to their professions. Both ladies were outsiders when they came into the film industry and have worked their way to the top relentlessly.
They Worked In The Beauty Industry Before Acting
Not only did they work in the beauty industry before B-town happened, but both Deepika and Priyanka excelled in that profession. While Deepika was awarded the ‘Model of the Year’ title by Kingfisher, Priyanka brought home the Miss World crown.
Started Out Early
In an interview, Padukone stated that she was in the tenth standard when she decided to take up modelling as a career. Similarly, Priyanka started enrolling for beauty pageants alongside her high school education.
Early Criticisms Proven Wrong
After the success of Om Shanti Om (2007) and the cold responses of films that followed, DP was thrashed with criticism for being expressionless and ‘just a beautiful iron rod’, while Piggy Chops was accused of lacking in acting skills during her initial rounds filmi attempts. They not only worked on their acting skills, but fearlessly took up challenging roles in bold films such as Fashion, Piku, Barfi, Cocktail and Bajirao Mastani etc.
Goodwill Works
Besides acting, both divas share an inherent passion for social causes. PC has worked with UNICEF for the last ten years as the brand ambassador for child rights. On the other hand, Deepika’s Live Love Laugh foundation not only provides support for victims of mental illnesses, but also equips medical practitioners with workshops and seminars on how to tackle issues in the mental health space.
Dropped Out Of College
Deepika had enrolled herself at Indira Gandhi National Open University for a Bachelors degree in sociology, but later quit to pursue her modelling career. Likewise, hailing from Bareilly, Priyanka wanted to pursue aeronautical engineering, but decided to leave after winning the Miss World pageant.
Debuts With Bollywood? Nah!
If you are presuming that the first film they did was for Bollywood, then you are quite in the shade. Priyanka’s made her big screen debut in 2002 with a Tamil film Thamizhan. Likewise, after getting wide recognition in Himesh Reshammiya’s music video Naam Hai Tera Tera, Deepika soon started getting offers for film roles. But considering herself to be too inexperienced, she signed a Kannada movie Aishwarya (2006) as her first.
Social Skills
Padukone has admitted to being socially awkward as a child and doesn’t quite have a particular set of celeb friends she hangs out with. PC doesn’t seem to share a bestie equation with any of her contemporaries either, probably for the lack of time, given her hectic New York-Mumbai schedule.
Keep Personal Away From Professional
Relationship statuses have always been a mystery when it comes to Deepika and Priyanka. But that golden silence has saved them from many controversies and professional losses. But the divas have been vocal about other personal stuff. Earlier last year, Deepika battled with depression and Priyanka lost her father, who she was extremely close to. Despite all the turbulence in their personal lives, they fulfilled their professional commitments, and even spoke about their challenges as superstars, quite boldly.
New In Hollywood, But Reigning Over Bollywood
Hollywood seems to be doing wonders for their Bollywood career graphs. While Priyanka was offered Bajirao Mastani after the success of Quantico, Deepika bagged Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati in the wake of xXx: Return Of Xander Cage.
Nothing can stop two persevering, insightful, strong and dedicated women. Don’t you agree? So let’s stop pitting them against each other, because together they’re taking on Bollywood and Hollywood, and honestly, that’s quite something!
(Meehika Barua is a freelance writer, editor, lifestyle and entertainment blogger, who’s been published in various digital magazines online.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)