Mumbai Feb 19: Global icon Priyanka Chopra has taken to her social media account to shower praise on former beauty queen and actress Namrata Shirodkar, calling her “a queen” after an old pageant video of Namrata resurfaced online.
Priyanka took to her social media account to reshare a throwback clip featuring Namrata from her beauty pageant days. The video shows a young Namrata Shirodkar confidently introducing herself on stage during the Miss Universe 1993 competition, where she represented India and emerged as a top six finalist. Wearing a sash that read “India”, Namrata is seen poised and well articulated during the introduction round.
Sharing the clip, Priyanka captioned it, “Once a queen always a queen @namratashirodkar @urstrulymahesh”
The gesture comes across as a warm and loved from one beauty queen to another, considering Priyanka herself went on to win the Miss World 2000 title.
On the professional front, Priyanka is all geared up to feature in ace filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli’s highly anticipated film “Varanasi” alongside Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu who is also known to be Namrata Shirodkar’s husband. During the unveiling of the film’s first look in November, Priyanka had flown down to Hyderabad for the event. She was seen interacting with Mahesh Babu and his wife Namrata Shirodkar and family.
Talking about the beauty pageant girls, Priyanka and Namrata, both began their journeys in Bollywood after winning the Miss India titles in 2000 and 1993 respectively. Priyanka continues to pursue an flourishing acting career, and Namrata stepped away from films after marrying Mahesh Babu in 2005.
In several old interviews of Mahesh Babu, the actor had been seen quoting how he had made it clear to Namrata during their courtship period that he wanted a partner who would prioritise family life and nurture their children with strong values. Namrata supported this decision further choosing to focus on her family and quit Bollywood at the peak of her career.
From movies like Pukar and Vaastav to Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai and others, Namrata was known for her acting abilities. On the personal front, Namrata Shirodkar got married to Mahesh Babu on 10 February 2005 in Mumbai.
The couple are blessed with two children: their son Gautam Krishna Ghattamaneni and their daughter Sitara Ghattamaneni.
–IANS