Deepika Padukone loves doing her own stunts. She is very athletic, it runs in her family.Very early in her career when she did two back-to-back double roles in Om Shanti Om and Chandni Chowk To China, Deepika Padukone got to do some martial arts in the latter.
She did them with much gusto with Akshay Kumar to keep her company.There were some scenes in this 2009 film that were thought to be too dangerous. But she insisted on doing away with the body double and also the wirings provided for safety during the stunts.
Chandni Chowk To China director Nikhil Advani recalls “There were some scenes that we thought to be too dangerous. But she insisted on doing away with the body double and also the wirings.She’s very athletic, it runs in her family. Then there was Akshay Kumar to inspire her. Akshay had done so much on-screen action. It was a novel experience for Deepika. And she sailed through the action. She worked really hard to get the posture and power in the action scenes.”
But nothing in Chandni Chowk To China compared with what she did in the Rajinikanth release Kochadaiyaan. Deepika’s one 10-minute stunt in Kochadaiyaan was choreographed by Peter Hein who did Rajnikant ‘s stunts in Robot..
Since then Deepika has been pining to show her athletic skills on screen again.
She finally gets another chance to do her own stunts in Siddharth Anand’s Pathan where she disposes of all body doubles and plunges into her own stunts. Shah Rukh Khan is also doing some risky action in Pathan.
The actress once told me, “I come from a family where sports is a given. My sister is a professional golf player.We are a very outdoor types. Doing my own stunts on screen is a dream situation for me.”
Deepika was last seen as cricketer Kapil Dev’s wife in Kabir Khan’s ’83.