Deepika Padukone’s unibrow look for Padmavati adds to the power of ‘beauty in diversity’
Is the ‘unflattering’ unibrow on the cusp of finding its moment under the Indian sun? While actor Kajol was the trailblazer in Bollywood, actor Deepika Padukone has revived interest in this look.
As per conventional beauty standards, the unibrow or monobrow is unflattering — if you have one, then you’re encouraged to pluck it. But it seems the unibrow will soon be having its moment among Indian fashionistas, and actor Deepika Padukone would be the reason behind it.
Her new look in her upcoming movie, in which she plays the beauteous Rani Padmavati, has got everyone talking. The 31-year-old is seen with a unibrow in the poster; fans can’t stop gushing over it. The moment the look was out, Twitterati began praising her unibrow and gave Deepika a thumbs-up for rocking the look.
In the West, model Sophia Hadjipanteli is making the unibrow movement happen — her Instagram page has more than 85,000 followers, and people are appreciating her striking looks. Her aim is to celebrate diversity and normalise things that society pressures us to hide.
Talking about the acceptance of the unibrow, beauty expert Vidya Tikari says, “Celebrities are always the frontrunners of fashion and people follow what they do. Deepika looks stunning with her unibrow. No doubt her fans who have unibrows wouldn’t fix or hide it [now] just because it doesn’t confine to beauty standards. I’ve done make-up for Kajol and she never allowed me to touch her unibrow, because she embraced her look and was happy with it.”
Kajol had a unibrow for many years after entering Bollywood, and became one of the top actors without changing her look. Her big hits Baazigar (1993) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) saw her with the unibrow look.
Celebrity make-up artist Abhijit Chanda also thinks that unibrows are cool. “They look beautiful. Having said that, unibrows only go with a certain face type. And I think with Deepika Padukone rocking the look, it’s going to be popular among both men and women,” he says.
However, beauty expert Aashmeen Munjal thinks that considering the unibrow as a thing of beauty is very subjective. He adds, “It may be beautiful for some, but for others it would still not be normal.”