It's no news that Deepika Padukone is the daughter of Indian star badminton player Prakash Padukone, but what's new is how her life was affected by her dad's celebrity, as she revealed on Nat Geo’s Nat Geo’s Mega Icons.
Talking about the 'special treatment' she received at school thanks to her dad being a famous sports personality in the country, Padukone shared how her teachers would say, "We would have punished you but we are big fans of your father."
Padukone then shared how for most of her school life was dedicated to badminton, the same sport as her father, rather than going to the cinema, watching films, or even TV! "The routine was to wake up every morning like 4-5am, go for physical conditioning, go back home, go to school," she said, adding, "As soon as I would finish school, there was no time to chitchat with friends so I would get home, change, have a snack, go to the badminton court, have dinner, be exhausted by that point and go to sleep and then the same thing again."
"That was my life: No late nights, no TV, no movies. Sport teaches you to sacrifice, discipline, dedication, and determination," admitted the Bollywood star who has also starred opposite Vin Diesel in a Hollywood production.
For Padukone, everything changed when she travelled to Copenhagen alone at the tender age of 16 and as she reveals, "When I came back, that was it.” She then actively pursued modelling as a career and relocated to Mumbai at 17, and in her father's words, realised, "Badminton was her second love, not first love.”
The rest is history; Padukone's debut in Bollywood opposite Shah Rukh Khan in 2007's Om Shanti Om was a smash hit and she went on to become one of the most sought after actors in the industry and beyond!
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