Deepika Padukone is an Indian actress who is not only famous in India but in the entire globe. Fighter, an aerial action Indian movie is her recent film along with Hrithik Roshan and Anil Kapoor as the main lead. She has done many films including Chennai Express, Pathaan, Ye Jawani Hai Deewani, Piku, Ram Leela, etc. which are globally famous.
She has also worked in international projects like XXX: Return of Xander Cage where she worked with international actors like Vin Diesel and Samuel. L Jackson. She has also appeared in various Hollywood TV shows like The Ellen DeGeneres Show and on the late show of James Cordon. However, Deepika Padukone’s movie journey hasn’t always been such glamorous and successful. Like any other individual even she has gone through bad patches and difficult times in her life.
Deepika Padukone’s Childhood:
Deepika was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on the 5th of January, 1986. Her mother, Ujjala Padukone used to work in a job as a travel agent while her father, Prakash Padukone is a professional badminton player who was the first Indian who win the All England Open Badminton Championship in the year 1980. In the same year, he was also ranked as the world’s no. 1 badminton player. When Deepika was just one year, Her family relocated to Bengaluru where later she completed her studies. She completed her education from Sophia High School and did her further studies at Mount Carmel College.
Deepika’s earlier focus was badminton just like her father. She always enjoyed sports and did play badminton at various national-level championships. In a few state-level tournaments, Deepika has also participated in baseball. However, She always tried to focus on her studies along with other activities. When she was just eight years old, she also started working as a child artist and also did a few advertisements.
Though, She was competing in badminton at the national level and was always interested in sports. When Deepika was in tenth grade she realized that she was playing badminton only for family and was not passionate about the sport. She then gave up sports and decided to concentrate only on her acting career. She then began her modeling career under the guidance of Prasad Bidapa in the year 2004.
Deepika Padukone Early Career:
Deepika started to do modeling for various other brands and products. In the year 2005, She also won Model of the Year at Kingfisher Fashion Awards because of her debut runway which she did for designer Suneet Verma at Lakme Fashion Week. She also gained popularity for Liril Soap advertisement which she did early in her career.
In the year 2006, Deepika was selected for a print campaign for Kingfisher Calender. That print campaign became quite popular resulting in the increased fame of Deepika. In the same year, she also gained wide recognition for appearing in one song of Himesh Reshammiya’s album Aap Ka Surroor. The song was titled Naam Hai Tera which became very popular and is listened to by many even today.
Deepika Padukone Movie Debut:
Many people think that Deepika’s debut film is Om Shanti Om and Farha Khan launched her in the industry but that is not true. Farha Khan directed Om Shanti Om was Deepika’s Hindi debut film but she had already done a movie before that named Aishwarya in the year 2006.
Directed by Indrajit Lankesh, Aishwarya is a Kannada movie starring Upendra as the main lead. This romantic comedy movie which was Deepika’s acting debut proved to be a commercial success of that year.
How did Deepika get Om Shanti Om?
Director Farha Khan who had earlier directed the movie Main Hoon Na starring Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen as the main lead became an iconic movie. The movie was very successful and Farha wanted to cast someone for her upcoming project along with SRK named ‘Happy New Year’.
Deepika’s appearance in Himmesh Reshmiya’s song Naam Tera gained a lot of recognition from viewers during that time. Farha Khan noticed Deepika in that song and decided to cast her in the upcoming movie, Happy New Year along with Shah Rukh Khan. It is also said that Wendell Rodricks, The person for whom Deepika used to model also helped her to get Om Shanti Om as he recommended her name to Malika Arora who later suggested Deepika’s name to Farha Khan.
Sadly, the movie Happy New Year was shelved by the end of 2006. Once, the Happy New Year movie project was shelved. Farha called Deepika to do a look test for a role where she had to portray the heroine of 70s. When Deepika wore the costume and did a look test for the scene, She looked so stunning that Farha immediately cast Deepika for her upcoming film along with Shah Rukh Khan titled ‘Om Shanti Om’.
Many people told Farha to replace her as any top actress would be ready to play that role. However, Farha insisted that she wanted to launch Deepika and only she would play that role. Om Shant Om was released on 9th November 2007 which proved to be not only Deepika’s but also Shah Rukh Khan’s one of the most popular and most successful films. The movie won several awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Newcomer to Deepika. The film became a cult classic and is still praised a lot by viewers for its music, direction, story, and performances. Deepika Padukone‘s role as actress Shanti Priya is still considered among one of the most popular characters she has ever played.
Deepika’s Career After Om Shanti Om:
Deepika’s career saw tremendous growth after Om Shanti Om. She did several films like Bachna Ae Haseeno, Love Aaj Kal, Housefull, etc which became greatly successful. She also delivered some flops like Chandni Chowk to China, Break Ke Baad, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Desi Boyz, etc. which didn’t do well at the box office.
There are upcoming several projects in which we will see Deepika Padukone including movies like Fighter, Kalki 2898AD, Singham Again, etc.
Though not confirmed, It is also said that Deepika will be doing a Korean series along with globally famous Korean actor Gong Yoo who is famous for his brilliant performance in movies like ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘Silenced’.
Also read – Why SRK Is King Of Bollywood
