Padma Patil Actress Afshan Azad Criticizes Her Yule Ball Costume and How She Was Treated on Set
Padma Patil is finally getting her say. With the HBO series on the horizon, Afshan Azad — who played Padma in the Harry Potter films from Goblet of Fire onward — has opened up about the Yule Ball costume her character wore and what making it was really like.
In a video shared to her Instagram, Azad explained that being handed a photo of Padma in the Yule Ball dress to sign at a recent fan event in France left her shaken. Looking back, she called the look “one of the worst Asian outfits I’ve ever seen on film or TV,” taking aim at its length, colours, and styling.
The behind-the-scenes reality, she says, was tougher than fans realised. Azad recalled that a costume designer “made me feel like I was the biggest girl on the planet” when she was just 16 — and in the reel’s caption she was blunt that she was made to feel fat. Looking back, she wishes she could tell that 16-year-old how good she actually looked.
She also threw her weight behind the long-running “justice for the Patil twins” campaign, agreeing with fans who feel the films passed up a chance to honour South Asian culture during one of the series’ showpiece moments. Her on-screen sister, Parvati, was played by Shefali Chowdhury.
Now she’s watching the reboot with interest. If the HBO series reaches the Yule Ball, Azad says, fans will be watching closely to see how the new Padma and Parvati are dressed.
Do you think the HBO series will give the Patil twins the Yule Ball moment they deserve? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow along for the latest Harry Potter news.
Sources: Afshan Azad (Instagram)
