Deepika Padukone talks about her biggest project yet

While Bollywood mostly depends on 'generational talent,' there are a handful who have managed to make their marks despite being outsiders. Case in point: Deepika Padukone. Touted as one of the biggest divas in Bollywood today, the statuesque Padukone began her career in showbiz as a model. Now, more than 13 years on, she is reflecting upon her transition from the runway to award-winning stardom, her busy schedule and her marriage to fellow superstar Ranveer Singh.

“I had a dream of becoming an actor but my reality was being a model. It was like being a model in the daytime and an actor at night. Without knowing how I was going to achieve it, and whether I was even capable, it felt familiar. In fact, as soon as I had started modelling, I had started getting offers from some of the biggest producers," Padukone told Femina recently. "At that time, I wasn’t ready and turned down a couple of projects. But by the time I was 19, Om Shanti Om happened. Farah Khan offered me the film and the rest is history.”

Unlike last year, the starlet has massive plans for 2021. "This year, I am going to be doing five films. I think in some ways, the pandemic panned out creatively because it was a time when people in the arts were writing and coming to me with stories I really connected with. By August/September, I knew what my line-up was for the next couple of months,” she said.

“I immediately started with Shakun Batra’s film, which is a relationship story that we haven’t seen in Indian cinema before. Then there is Pathan, an action film with Shah Rukh Khan, and Nag Ashwin’s multilingual film with Prabhas. I am also doing a remake of Anne Hathaway’s The Intern, which is so relevant in today’s times when you have the millennials and the older generations coming together. And then Mahabharata, in which I am playing Draupadi. I want to tell that story to the world."

Speaking of her struggles, the Tamasha star noted, "When I first came to Bombay, I did not have a roof over my head and worked hard enough to buy one. I know the sacrifices that I have made and the hard work I have put in to get where I am today.”

But Padukone is not a celebrity in the public eye. She’s the queen of her home too. “Managing a home is not a chore — it is something I enjoy doing. For instance, when I have people over, I don’t just get a party planner. I set the menu myself, serve home-cooked food because that’s how I have seen it with my mother; we are still very traditional.”

No wonder her husband cannot seem to get enough of Padukone! “Everybody talks about Ranveer’s energy but what most people don’t realise is that this is not who he is all the time," she said. "What attracted me to him was the fact that we have been together for eight years and are still discovering each other. I think that is the beauty of our relationship. We started off not as lovers but close friends who connected at some level, even though we are very different people. So, even today, I don’t think he knows everything about me and I can’t say I know everything about him.”

The starlet is in awe of Singh as an actor as well. “He is probably the best we’ve had in a really long time; his versatility is unmatched. I don’t think there’s any actor in the current generation who has that. Very often, you still see an actor in character but when you see Ranveer Singh play a role, there is an absolute transformation and I haven’t seen that in a long time."
So, what makes them tick? "We both love eating and can keep eating all the time. I think it is also our love for home — both of us love being around family. The minute we have any time off, our priority is spending quality time with each other. We both love travelling. We love the sand, sun and the sea,” Padukone concluded.

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