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INTERVIEW: DEEPIKA PADUKONE

Budding Superstar Dominates Bollywood Box Office

By: Parimal M. Rohit
November 29, 2010

(Reliance Big Pictures) Deepika Padukone could not have scheduled it better herself, but for two consecutive weeks, the youngest of Bollywood superstars will rule the box office. After last weekend’s release of Break Ke Baad, Ms. Padukone shifts from one leading star in Imran Khan to megastar Abhishek Bachchan with this weekend’s opening of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. From romantic comedy to period piece adventure, Ms. Padukone will certainly be basking in the limelight as Hindi film fans flock to multiplexes to get their respective fill of each film. The only question is which fill will ultimately end up with the higher box office draw before both films mark their respective exits from multiplexes by the end of 2010?

 
Either way, Ms. Padukone is not one to complain. In fact, she seems to be enjoying the line of work she chose to pursue, mostly due to the various challenges acting presented to her. One such challenge was found in Danish Aslam’s Break Ke Baad, where Ms. Padukone found an opportunity to try something she'd never tried before.
 
Specifically, Ms. Padukone talked about how sensitive she is in the field of romantic relationships, making it difficult to connect to Aaliya, the character she portrays in Break Ke Baad.
 
DEEPIKA PADUKONE“I think the reason I chose to do the film is: one, 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,” the 24-year-old actress said in an interview with the press during her promotional campaign of Break Ke Baad. “The way I think of a relationship is very, very different. Aaliya reacts without thinking; I am not like that. I am a little more sensitive; I think before I do something. Her professional side I connect with, but her personal side I don’t connect with.”
 
Things were a tad different for Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, in which Ms. Padukone shifted her relation from a modern working woman to someone wearing a sari and playing badminton in 1930s Bengal. In the period piece directed by Ashutosh Gorwariker, many have apparently noted that Ms. Padukone is portraying a not-so-glamorous role, causing the actress to wonder aloud about why people question her look.
 
“I don’t know why people think it’s a deglam role. Personally, I love wearing saris, and that's why I wore it to Cannes Film Festival. Sari is the most glamorous outfit for any Indian women, so in that way, I’m, in fact, playing a glamorous role in the film,” she stated as she partook in another promotional tour for Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey with Messrs, Bachchan, and Gorwariker. “I didn’t have to do anything at all. (Mr. Gorwariker) decided all the details, from my hairstyle in every scene to what bindi and sari I would wear.”
 
Well, it was not exactly that easy. Perhaps Ms. Padukone did not have to do much when it came down to fashion and wardrobe, but when the red light flashed on and Mr. Gorwariker snapped action, the young thespian had to focus rather hard during the badminton scenes--mostly because she had already mastered the sport on her own time, whereas the character called for someone who never heard of the sport.
 
“Strangely, it was very hard for me to play badminton in that scene. The film is set in the 1930s, and I couldn’t afford to play like a pro,” she said. “In fact, I had to unlearn my badminton skills to ensure that I don’t look like a trained badminton player.”
 
As she unlearned her real-life badminton skills to portray a character who knew nothing of the sport, Ms. Padukone played a completely different kind of woman in Break Ke Baad--one who was very career-minded but unsure of whether love and relationships had a place in her life.
 
“Aaliya is very, very focused about her career. She wants to achieve a lot for herself. She wants to go to Australia and become an actress. She is independent and very ambitious, and these are the characteristics that I identify with,” Ms. Padukone told the press. “But at the same time, she is a girl who doesn’t believe in love, commitment, relationships, and marriage. And she is also a little insensitive and immature, and I don’t identify with these things.”
 
Interestingly enough, Ms. Padukone believes audiences will identify with the overall theme and vibe of Break Ke Baad, perhaps because of the similarities they see between that film and another film she starred in last year, Love Aaj Kal.
 
“People find a similarity because the space in both the films is similar. People 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,” she explained to the press. “Everyone would relate to the film because everyone has gone through it at some point in his or her life. The characters are completely different. It’s a love story, with a few light moments as well.”
 
From a love story with light moments one week to a period piece adventure about a village fighting for survival the next, Ms. Padukone has demonstrated her range and her ability to leave her mark at the box office.
 
Be sure to check out Ms. Padukone in Break Ke Baad, which opened on November 26th, and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which opens December 2nd.