MUMBAI: Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor set the ramp on fire at “The Walk of Mijwan” on Thursday night flaunting the outfit designed by ace designer Manish Malhotra.
The duo looked stunning as the showstopper, wearing beautifully embroidered dresses from the acclaimed designer’s collection. Ranbir sported a black floral embroidered sherwani, while Deepika wore a pearlescent lehenga designed with heritage embroidery that celebrated the craft of needle.
The collection showed some of the quintessential Indian embroidery craftsmanship in Chikankari in various textures that celebrated traditional Indian design.
Organised by Mijwan Welfare Society, in the presence of veteran actress Shabana Azmi, the fashion evening was graced by many celebrated personalities of the film industry.
The annual fundraiser show was attended by Waheeda Rahman, Asha Parekh, Nandita Das, Javed Akhtar, Huma Qureshi, Nushrat Bharucha, Yami Gautam, Mouni Roy, Kirti Kharbanda, among many others.
Ranbir and Deepika are rumoured to be ex-flames, however, they two have maintained an easy and amicable friendship.
Speaking at the event, Ranbir Kapoor said that the notion of masculinity has to be changed to empower women.
On asking his idea of empowering the women of the country and securing equal rights for them, Ranbir said: “I think firstly, we have to change the notion of masculinity.”
“I think the idea which we have in our mind about masculinity… if we could change the feeling of entitlement then that’s the big thing,” he said.
“Once we do that, we should provide a platform to encourage the citizens of our country, especially to girls and the women. It will then be a great start and I think Mijwan Welfare Society is just about that,” Ranbir added.
Speaking on his experience of walking the ramp with his co-actor and ex-girlfriend Deepika Padukone after so long, Ranbir said: “I think the biggest thing is we have come together to walk for Mijwan Welfare Society. That is the bigger picture here so it’s always wonderful to walk for Manish with Deepika and for Shabana aunty and everybody concerned with Mijwan Welfare Society.”
When Deepika was asked of her experience of walking the ramp with Ranbir, she said: “It’s very exciting. This is for the first time I am walking the ramp for the Mijwan fashion show. I started off my career as a model. I walked the ramp many times but this was special. It felt genuine, real and connected.”
“I feel everyone behind the scenes has worked really hard in doing what they do. Not just putting the show together but you can see the work, effort, and craftsmanship,” said Deepika.
The actor also added that it gave her real joy to see the Mijwan group doing so much to empower women and children.
“I think most importantly, the fact that they have empowered so many women and children gives me so much joy and it’s inspiring to see the work they do.”
