[tps_footer]They say two heroines can never be friends. The adage, sadly, stands true even today, in the big, bad world of Bollywood. Despite all surface appearances, the latest two actresses to be hit by contemporary-rivalry are none other than Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra.
The two young actresses have a lot in common. Both began their careers around the same time – Parineeti Chopra in 2011, with Ladies VS Ricky Bahl, and Alia Bhatt in 2012, with Student of the Year. Both come from film families, so to speak: Parineeti is superstar heroine Priyanka Chopra’s first cousin, while Alia is a second generation Bhatt, and her family has been in the movie business for nearly half a century.
The two, also, were launched by mega-production houses. Parineeti’s first film was produced by the Bollywood mammoth Yash Raj Films, while Alia entered the industry riding the Dharma Productions wave.
This is where the similarities end, though. Parineeti is more of a small-town, somewhat outsider in Bollywood, though she was working with the Marketing department of YRF prior to joining films. Alia is a born-and-bred Bollywood girl. Parineeti is more rustic and girl-next-door, while Alia is the glamorous one. In fact, Alia almost reminds us of a younger Kareena Kapoor, in her demeanour and haute fashion sense.
As equations in Bollywood go, nothing is ever permanent. Yesterday, while the two girls were fierce enemies, taking jibes at each other at events and appearances, the two have now seemingly become best buddies. On filmmaker Karan Johar’s chat show, the two behaved like long-lost besties, hugging, sharing gossip and playfully teasing each other throughout.
However, we noticed the undercurrent of tension between the two, the simmering insecurity beneath the jovial facade. Alia had gone on record, on a previous episode, to say that she is highly insecure, because Parineeti is “so good at what she does.” Letting slip a bitchy aside though, she added that Parineeti did need a tad bit of help in the styling department, and that her spoken Hindi was better than her English.
Parineeti played it smart, by saying that she would employ Alia as her stylist from now onwards, since Alia thought her dressing sense wasn’t up to par. This was a clever comeback, trying to say that Alia is only good at looking glamorous, and still has miles to catch up with Parineeti in the acting department.
Nevertheless, Karan Johar cleverly disguised the tension, implicitly insisting that the two pretend to share warm vibes on the set of the talk show. Whether or not this is just a facade or whether the two have buried their long-standing professional rivalry, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, take a look at images of Alia and Parineeti, and tell us who you think is the hotter girl, and who is the better actress![/tps_footer]
