It isn’t often that a former Bollywood actress is able to command so much attention at the most talked-about showbiz night of the year.

But following her turn on the Met Gala’s blue carpet last week, Priyanka Chopra may be the exception.

The Indian-born star has made quite a name for herself in Hollywood with roles in thriller series Quantico and Citadel, is close friends with the Duchess of Sussex and – the icing on the cake – is married to international pop star Nick Jonas, formerly one of the Jonas Brothers.

Dressed in a stunning black and white polka dot couture gown by Balmain and adorned with a £15million emerald Bulgari necklace, the 42-year-old dazzled on Jonas’s arm at the Gala – eight years after the couple officially revealed their relationship at the same event.

But this year, their arrival prompted chatter for an entirely different reason.

A few yards ahead of Priyanka on the same blue carpet was her former Bollywood co-star Shah Rukh Khan, 59 – a relative unknown in the UK but celebrated in India as ‘King Khan’. Indeed, his wealth dwarfs that of most Hollywood superstars – in 2023 he was the second-richest actor on the planet, with an estimated fortune of £650million.

Outside of cricket, he and Priyanka are probably the most talked about Indian-born personalities in the world, and not least because they were once rumoured to be dating.

Dressed in a stunning black and white polka dot couture gown by Balmain and adorned with a £15million emerald Bulgari necklace, Priyanka Chopra dazzled on Nick Jonas’s arm at the Gala

 Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was also on the same blue carpet a few yards ahead of her

In 2006 they starred alongside each other in crime thriller franchise Don: The Chase Begins Again and in the Don 2 sequel in 2011, perhaps a little too closely as tongues started wagging that their relationship was more than just professional, despite the 17-year age gap, and that he was, and still is, a married man.

Both parties have long denied an affair. But Priyanka upped sticks and moved to Los Angeles after allegedly being ‘blacklisted’ for roles in Bollywood amid the fallout from the scandal.

Their attendances at the Met Gala – which was Khan’s first time at the prestigious fashion event – and the close timing of their arrivals were, I’m told, purely coincidental.

Yet, as internet sleuths have pointed out, their outfits bore a striking resemblance to those they wore to a promotional event in Delhi some 18 years ago.

In 2007, stars of Don - a £52million film franchise - were pictured at the do for Tag Heuer watches, with Priyanka in a sweeping polka dot dress and Khan in a long black jacket and trousers - just as they wore to the Gala.

The truth of their relationship back then remains unknown, but I’m told their close friendship while filming both Don movies certainly got tongues wagging.

Sources working with them describe how they spent considerable time together away from the set, often at glitzy parties.

One says: ‘Priyanka and Shah Rukh bonded a lot on the movie sets of Don and they were also seen at a lot of parties together.

‘They’d go out for dinner. It was obvious that they had become very close friends and enjoyed one another’s company.’

The pair may have bonded over their middle-class but, at times, unstable upbringings: Priyanka’s parents were physicians in the Indian army, and travelled regularly across the world, including a period spent living in the US - while Khan was raised by his grandparents following the death of his mother and father when he was young.

Intriguingly, Priyanka and Khan had first met in 2000, when she won the Miss India pageant and Khan was on the judging panel.

In footage from the event, Khan is seen posing a question to Priyanka on stage. ‘Hypothetically, if you were to marry one of the following, who will it be?’ he asked.

‘An Indian sportsman... an artistic businessman... Or a Hindi film star like me, who has nothing better to do than to give you complicated multiple-choice questions about a hypothetical wedding.’

Priyanka didn’t take the bait, however, replying: ‘I think I would go to a great Indian sportsman.’

Outside of cricket, Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka are probably the most talked about Indian-born personalities in the world, and not least because they were once rumoured to be dating

Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra attend the Jaipur polo ground in 2007

By this point, Khan had already been married for nearly ten years. He met his wife Gauri - who at 54, is now a well-established Indian film producer - at high school and, as well as their own production company, the pair today share three children, aged 27, 25 and 12.

Like any wife, Gauri bristled when, in 2006, her husband was pictured multiple times out for dinner with Priyanka - a former Miss India, no less. This was despite the two actors having finished filming. On one occasion, Priyanka was even seen wearing his jacket.

When filming resumed for the 2011 sequel, the swirling rumours apparently grew too much for Gauri to bear.

Sources have claimed that, as a producer of some of Bollywood’s biggest movies, she dealt with the scandal by helping to ‘blacklist’ Priyanka from the industry.

‘The Shah Rukh’s wife who is a big movie producer in Bollywood, took a stand,’ an insider said.

‘She basically got the film fraternity to slowly push her away.’

Consequently, Priyanka had ‘fewer offers for films and a worse choice of scripts, so she doesn’t do much work in that space now’.

Whether down to Gauri’s influence or not, the industry’s cold shoulder seemingly worked, as she was effectively forced out and so in 2012 sought her fortune in the US.

Gauri no longer had to face rumours about a threat to her marriage, and the arrival of her third child, born via surrogate, only cemented the union.

Ironically, an interview with Gauri from 2005 re-emerged this week in which she revealed what she would do if Khan ever cheated on her.

On an episode of Indian chat show Koffee with Karan, she said: ‘I pray to God every day that if we are not supposed to be together and if he has to be with somebody else, then God, let me find somebody else also. And I hope he is handsome.’

As it turned out, she had no need for a dashing new suitor, as exiled Priyanka settled in LA’s Hollywood Hills and embarked on her Stateside career.

In a 2023 episode of Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard she said the move was a result of Bollywood politics, a shrinking pool of opportunities in India and the need to make a fresh start elsewhere.

‘I was being pushed into a corner in the industry,’ she said on the podcast.

‘I had beef with people, and again, I’m not good at playing the game. I was kind of just tired of the politics.

‘I was panicked, and my mom was panicked. She said, “You’re going to be 30 soon. You know that’s old in this industry. They want to work with 20-year-olds, so you need to think about a new revenue stream if you’re going to sustain yourself.”

‘I was having trouble back home being cast in the movies I wanted to be cast in.’

Arguably, it worked a treat. She has since starred in blockbuster films such as Baywatch and Love Again, and took the lead role of FBI recruit Alex Parrish in the spy thriller Quantico, which ran for three series.

She also made a return to music, having previously had a singing career in India. In 2013, she released music featuring American rappers Will.I.Am and Pitbull.

Hollywood also introduced her to her husband, Nick Jonas, 32, who is one third of the band The Jonas Brothers.

They met in 2017 at Vanity Fair’s Oscars party, got married the following year and had a baby girl, Malti Marie, via a surrogate in 2022.

The new arrival has seemingly not affected her career as new projects beckon.

A new series of Citadel, where Priyanka reprises her role as agent Nadia Sinh alongside Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden, is being released in the coming weeks, and she has Amazon Prime film Heads Of State, where she stars alongside Idris Elba, coming out in summer.

Perhaps, in the end, the Khans did her a favour.