At one point in her career Deepika Padukone was trying to be compete with Priyanka Chopra;which was like Waheeda Rehman trying to compete with Mumtaz. Or Hema Malini with Zeenat Aman.Hema thinks Deepika is her true inheritor.
Personally, Deepika reminds me of Jaya Bhaduri. Both won’t take crap from their co-stars, Jaya refused to work with the then-reigning superstar Rajesh Khanna. Even when Hrishikesh Mukherjee persuaded Jaya and Khanna to come together in Bawarchi, they were not paired opposite one another.
Similarly, you won’t see Deepika Padukone in a Salman Khan pictureshow because heroines are expected to behave a certain way in his company. Deepika won’t comply.Not that she is headstrong. She is just not into pampering egos.
Like many beautiful women, Deepika Padukone craves for acceptance , love and approval from family and friends. She is among the lucky few to have found all three from her loved ones, and from the world at large, and that includes the biggest Indian female star of all times Hema Malini.
The eternally beautiful Hemaji once told me, “If there is one contemporary actress I like the best it is Deepika. She is so beautiful and so talented. And so dignified in her public conduct. There are so many of contemporaries who keep shooting off their mouths to get attention. Not Deepika.I think she is more talented beautiful and dedicated to her work that I ever was. And so graceful!”
Deepika is also more competitive than Hemaji ever was. She doesn’t come across as being competitive. But she is. The only reason she went abroad was to give Priyanka Chopra a run for her money. And no harm in that. Shabana Azmi would hound a director she wanted to work with until he or she said yes.
Deepika doesn’t know this. But she makes some of the biggest legends of our celluloid feel insecure. I remember this incident at the 50th birthday of a director where beauty queen , diva, icon, bahu of a distinguished family turned up her nose the minute Deepika walked in. “What is she doing here?” she asked . Errr, exactly what you are doing?
The first time I heard about Ms Padukone was when my friend Priyadarshan was planning to launch her in a film called Pirates. “There’s a new girl from Bangalore. I think she has great potential,” he told me excitedly. The next thing I knew Deepika was being launched by Farah Khan. Since Deepika knew nothing about the Hindi film industry she was advised that Farah was a safer bet than Priyan, though that is a debatable point.
Our conversations back then were warm but formal. Then one day she surprised me by asking, “When do I get to meet you, ?” It was unexpected. We didn’t get an opportunity to build a stronger bond.But I am happy to see Deepika in such a happy marriage after an unhappy relationship where she was totally devoted. I wouldn’t like to go into why that relationship ended. But she gave it her all, as she does to everything she does.
The last two years was not very kind to Deepika, and it wasn’t just the Covid. But Deepika always shows grace under pressure. I have never seen her do anything undignified . She is a very proper lady, likes all her ps and qs in place and never errs in her duties.I am sure Deepika will make a great mother soon. Ranveer will agree with that.
Deepika will agree with me when I say Cocktail in 2012 was a turningpoint in her career.
She had said to me in an interview, “I was ready to take the risk of playing grey characters. Veronica in ‘Cocktail’ was very different from what I’ve done so far. She didn’t live by any of the rules. But even Veronica was finally looking for the same things that all girls want: permanence, stability and faith in a relationship. The film’s writer, Imtiaz Ali and director Homi Adajania, had the faith that I could pull it off. Their faith gave me the confidence to just go out there and play this wild child. It was fun to play wicked. I’d like to do it more often.”
When she came in she found the scrutiny of her personal life very discomforting. “All this is very new for me. My father (badminton champ Prakash Padukone) was also a celebrity, but we were never exposed to media coverage. Before I went into the modelling profession, I did go into my dad’s profession – it was the expected thing. I played badminton at the national level. But I realised my heart was set on modelling. Movies weren’t even in my range of vision. But after two years of modelling, I started getting film offers I was only 18 then. I didn’t want to jump into anything.”
Deepika made her debut in a Kannada film Aishwarya. Deepika is from Karnataka and it was directed by a young and talented man, Indrajit Lankesh. Furthermore, she was paired with a huge Kannada star, Upendra.
Recalled Deepika, “I learnt Kannada in school. Farah Khan had already offered me Om Shanti Om. But we were to shoot a year later. So I did the Kannada film.Initially, I was very nervous about working with Shah Rukh Khan. But Farah and Shah Rukh made it very comfortable for me. We did readings together, we met socially so that we were comfortable when we faced the camera. He’s again someone I grew up watching.”
Now happily married, Deepika exudes a sense of wellbeing that comes naturally only to those who are secure in their lives. . And she does look drop dead gorgeous, even in that very uncomfortable posture of sensuality in Pathan.
