The Ranveer Singh stylebook proves he is the Barbie of Bollywood

Regardless of what you feel about the narrative of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, you can’t deny that in visual terms, the movie is a fever dream soaked in fifty shades of pink. While Ken relies on an all-black wardrobe after chanelling his masculine “Ken-ergy”, the titular heroine obviously relies on pink wardrobe, a pink Corvette, and pink everything else.

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Even if she relies on any shades other than pink, the brightness level and flashy meter is always amped up high. Now take those same colours and make them even brighter and flashier and you get Ranveer Singh AKA India’s Barbie.

While occasional roles like Gully Boy and Lootera tone down his wardrobe, it is public knowledge on how flamboyant and larger-than-life Singh prefers to be. Now cashing in on his so-called “Sindhi pride”, Singh is practically playing himself in his 2023 rom-com Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahaani. Much of the movie's buzz is also centered around Rocky's "Sindhi-core" fashion. 

Singh plays a loud-mouthed Punjabi boy who flaunts his waxed chest (oiled with more oil than the Gulf’s reserves) and multi-coloured fits, and walks like a happy Labrador wagging his tail. 

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A spiked leather jacket with what seems like a “barb-wired” pair of sunglasses. Cowboy boots paired with the tightest pair of white skinny jeans (complete with torn pieces of neon green cloth). Hexagonal glasses with a half-open silk shirt (with a pattern that would suit only Gujarati businessmen in Bollywood). These are just some of Ranveer Singh’s many wardrobe choices in Rocky aur Rani. 

Even when it comes to rocking shades of Barbie pink, Singh has time and again obliged to immerse himself in the pink-ness. Pink suits, sweatshirts, and even cheetah-print pink, Singh has done it all. Even his pineapple printed Gucci shirt that he loved flaunting to the paps had a shade of pink in it. 

Kapil Dev, the legendary cricketer whom Singh played in '83, himself poked fun at Singh’s love for pink and other flashy designs in a particularly memorable Cred advertisement. 

Remember when Barbie and Ken arrive in the real world and dress up in their vibrantly psychedelic skater cosplay, complete with lime green elbow-pads, knee-pads and rollerblades with pink lace? For Ranveer, these maximalist fashion choices might be ordinary picks in his personal wardrobe. 

Lime green and neon green are just some of the many shades that allow Singh to make a statement, regardless of what the fashion police feels. A blinding shade of lemon green has been worn by Singh as a double-breasted suit and a full tracksuit (which he also topped with a silver space jacket). When it comes to Bollywood’s fashion experimentalists, Singh is definitely in a class of his own. 

From sporting a zebra-printed attire at the Filmfare Awards to becoming “desi Jared Leto” with a Gucci overdose to a ghagra pathaani combo for Bajirao Mastani to being dressed in a golden foil wrap, this Barbie has no competitor.

Uorfi Javed, with her safety-pin dress or literally a sack, comes close but well, she too is in a league of her own. 

Closer home, Pathaan star Deepika Padukone occasionally borrows a page out of her husband’s style book. But overall, her style also falls flat as compared to overzealous glitter of Singh’s “drip” (barring the fashion blunders like her FIFA World Cup appearance where she cosplayed as a literal Louis Vuitton bag). 

So, for now, Bollywood’s Barbie reigns alone with no other Barbie or Ken coming close to upping him in bold Barbiecore fashion choices.