Padukone doesn’t believe in ‘taking a break’

MUMBAI: Model and actor Deepika Padukone says she is very sensitive when it comes to relationships and couldn’t connect to her character in Break Ke Baad. But the actor took the challenge because she wanted to do something different from her previous roles.

“I think the reason I chose to do the film is because I thought this is very different from the characters I  played in my previous films. Also because the character is very different from the kind of person I am, especially her take on relationships,” Padukone, 24, said.

“The way I think of a relationship is very, very different. Aaliya (her Break Ke Baad character) reacts without thinking; I am not like that. I am a little more sensitive; I think before I do something. I connect with her professional side but not her personal one.”

“Aaliya is very, very focussed about her career. She wants to achieve a lot for herself. She wants to go to Australia and become an actor. She is independent and very ambitious and these are the characteristics that I identify with. But at the same time she is a girl who doesn’t believe in love, commitment, relationship and marriage. She is also a little insensitive and immature and I don’t identify with these things,” said Padukone.

Directed by Danish Aslam and produced by Kunal Kohli, the film shows how the psyche of individuals affects their love life negatively. Padukone’s love interest is played by Imran Khan.

Padukone could never understand the concept of taking a break in a relationship.

“I never really understood the concept of a break. Two people in a relationship should try to make it work. Personally I never took a break in a relationship. I don’t know what it means,” said Padukone, who used to date actor Ranbir Kapoor.

When asked if not having space in a relationship meant being over-possessive, she said, “Not necessarily. After doing the film, I realised that when people say let’s take a break that means there are a lot of problems in a relationship, but at the same time you love each other so much that you don’t want to let go completely either. I think it’s a matter of convenience. On the one hand you want your freedom, but you also don’t let go of that person.”

Deepika Padukone also denied that the film’s story was similar to her 2009 film Love Aaj Kal.

“People find a similarity because the space in both the films is similar. They also find it very similar because both of them are very real. Love Aaj Kal was a very real film; so is Break Ke Baad. People can relate to the film because everyone has gone through this at some point in their life. The characters are completely different. It’s a love story with a few light moments as well,” said Padukone.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2010.