Between being a clean slate and somebody who is for certain about their expertise, Deepika Padukone says she needs to be a mix of each because the actor completes 15 years in Hindi cinema in 2022.
The former mannequin made her Bollywood debut with 2007’s reincarnation romantic drama Om Shanti Om and has constructed a filmography boasting titles like Love Aaj Kal, Cocktail, Piku, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, and Padmaavat, amongst others.
“It has been so much (about) learning, processing, understanding, growing, evolving. I hope that journey for me always continues,” Deepika Padukone, who made her movie debut with the 2006 Kannada film Aishwarya, mentioned. She shaped her personal manufacturing firm Ka Productions in 2018, underneath which she produced and starred in Chhapaak (2020) and 83 (2021). Also an entrepreneur, Deepika is the founding father of the Live Love Laugh Foundation, which creates consciousness on psychological well being in India.
The 36-year-old actor, who has additionally starred within the Hollywood movie XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), mentioned she hopes to maintain evolving as an individual {and professional}.
“I don’t stroll on to the set with the thought that I’m so many movies previous or I do know higher than all of you. My method is what I can be taught from the set of those new individuals. It’s a brand new movie, director and expertise.
“Be a mix of a blank slate and someone who has experience. Your past experience of films also comes in. To be able to find that balance, it’s a bit of both. The scariest thing that can happen is to stagnate,” Deepika informed PTI in an interview over Zoom.
Next up for her is Gehraiyaan, a drama on modern-day relationships. It additionally stars Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Dhairya Karwa, with Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapur in pivotal roles.
In the Shakun Batra directorial, Deepika Padukone performs Alisha, whom she merely described as “human”.
The actor mentioned the movie is an try to instill empathy within the viewers in the direction of all kinds of individuals.
“The strategy of this movie has made me realise there’s no white, black or gray. It’s really human. We categorise characters as a result of we simply don’t know characters like this sufficient in cinema.
“It’s very easy to say this one is flawed, this one is a villain or a hero. We have tried to humanise this character and understand the reason behind her choices. Hopefully we have been able to achieve that,” Deepika mentioned. Alisha is an “ambitious” particular person with baggage from the previous who’s looking for a greater life, she mentioned, including that girls with ambition are sometimes judged by society.
“A lot of times ambition is addressed in a negative way, especially when a woman is ambitious. Characters like her get judged. It’s ok to be ambitious and want a better life. The minute there is emotion, empathy and understanding, you’re with the character,” she mentioned.
“When so many different things are thrown at you, what are the choices you make in your life at that moment? They say, sometimes in the most stressful situations you get to know a person,” she added.
The actor mentioned she took her time to provide her nod to the challenge after Batra narrated the story to her.
“Roles like this are extremely demanding. These parts come from an extremely deep emotional place within. I took about two days to get back to him. That really was the time that I took to process the narration. ‘This is going to demand a lot from me. Am I ready for that kind of commitment?’ But the minute I make that commitment I don’t really think about how difficult it is. All I’m trying to do on set is be as honest as possible to the character and the scene. Some days will be tough, some days it will be easy. That’s the way it is.” While it’s an especially practical and layered character, she mentioned, there are gentle moments to Alisha.
“It has been (both) exhausting and fun,” she added.
Jointly backed by Dharma Productions and Viacom18 Studios in affiliation with Batra’s Jouska Films, Gehraiyaan is an Amazon Original movie which can begin streaming from February 11. The movie can also be garnering consideration for being one of many first Indian initiatives to have an intimacy director on board. Dar Gai, an India-based Ukraine-born filmmaker, is credited because the intimacy director on Gehraiyaan.
Deepika Padukone mentioned intimacy is a part of the film and never the principle premise.
“(Having an intimacy director) adds an element of security, comfort and trust. But there is so much more to the film than intimacy. The intimacy comes in when you are trying to be authentic with modern-day relationships. It’s just a part of the film. A lot of time we shy away from showing what relationships in real life are or what they could be on screen,” she added. After Gehraiyaan, Deepika has movies like Pathan, Project Ok and Fighter on her slate.
Pathan reunites the actor with Shah Rukh Khan, her co-star of three movies – Om Shanti Om, Chennai Express and Happy New Year.
Directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Yash Raj Films, the movie is anticipated to be launched by 2022 finish, she mentioned.
“We are in the process of finishing Pathan now which should hopefully be released by the end of this year. We have a last schedule left.” Nag Ashwin’s sci-fi film Project Ok will see Deepika reverse Baahubali star Prabhas. In Fighter, additionally directed by Siddharth Anand, she is going to share the display screen with Hrithik Roshan.
“I started Project K with Prabhas two months ago. We are doing it in multiple languages. It’s a pan India film. I’ll start shooting for Fighter in the next couple of months. All these are with different actors, stories and directors. I’m looking forward to all of them,” she added.
