She had just one release in 2012 – Cocktail – and it did amazing business. In addition, she was praised for her performance by one and all. Then, in 2013, she delivered not one or two but four blockbusters – Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Goliyon Ki Raasleela – Ram-Leela. Considering her contribution to the box office, the accolades she’s received and the line-up on her slate, it isn’t an exaggeration to say she’s the No 1 actress today. Here’s Blockbuster Actress Deepika Padukone in conversation with team Box Office India
Box Office India (BOI): 2013 was a dream year for you, with Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Ram-Leela. In your wildest dreams, did you ever think it would be this good?
Deepika Padukone (DP): Sometimes, when things happen and they are this special, you never expect it to be that way. It’s just, like, ho jata hai. All you can do – and I have always said this – is be honest to the time you spend on a film set. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. You give 100 per cent and you do it for yourself. What you give is what you get back.
I chose my films the way I always do. It was almost impossible trying to accommodate all these films. Like, I was doing Yeh Jawaani…, Chennai Express and it became even more hectic when I was trying to accommodate Ram-Leela along with these two films. The only way I could accommodate Ram-Leela was by doing it in the breaks between Yeh Jawaani… and Chennai Express. As a result, I was working more than 365 days a year by doing double shifts. Also, I had not accounted for endorsement shoots, rehearsals, promotions… But I am not complaining. It was well worth it. People may applaud me for all this but whatever happened was organic.
BOI: Interestingly, each film was very different from the others. Was that your strategy?
DP: Not, at all. It’s great now that the year has ended and people can analyse and say there were two Rs 100-crore films and one Rs 200-crore film. Now we can sit back and discuss the math… how well a film has done, or critically how it has done. But I didn’t plan for all these films to release in the same year. If I could have had my way, I would have preferred them to have been spaced out a little. I wish Chennai Express didn’t eat into the business of Yeh Jawaani… or Ram-Leela didn’t eat into the business of another… To have such big films releasing back to back, I would have preferred… If only Yeh Jawaani… had released, it would have been more than enough for me. And I would have easily had Chennai Express and Ram-Leela releasing much later. But, like I said, you can’t control these things.
BOI: It’s a great combination – winning box-office accolades as well as
winning over critics – and you have been managing to do that for your last five films. What is that like?
DP: When I am doing a film, I don’t say ‘With this film, I am now going to prove I can act or prove I can break all the records’. Things like these are beyond your control. Like I said, the only thing I can do is be honest to the roles I play, to the films, give it 100 per cent. I am exhausted at the end of every day. When you do that, everything else will happen.
BOI: Do you think you’re the No 1 actress today?
DP: I still have a long way to go.
BOI: You can be No 1 and still have a long way to go.
DP: No, I mean, to just have four or five successes, back-to-back, in the same year… I don’t know if that’s the definition of being No 1. For me, it’s repeat value. I hope I have been part of films which have repeat value and which will be remembered when you are celebrating 200 years of cinema. I think that is the hallmark of a successful film. People are talking about how I have contributed Rs 600 crore to the box office this year but I think a true sign of success is when you can watch a film over and over again.
BOI: The trade is already comparing you to the likes of Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. How does that feel?
DP: It feels great. Recently, I read an article about how, after Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, it’s me, and I was, like, ‘WOW!’ because these are the people I grew up watching. Sridevi in Chandni, Madhuri in Dil, Juhi Chawla in Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke… Since they influenced my life when I was growing up, it is a nice feeling to be spoken about in the same way that people did about them.
BOI: Since you have set the benchmark so high, is the pressure on you even more? Is that a concern for you?
DP: I understand that it’s not something that can keep happening all the time, so I am enjoying it as long as it lasts. I enjoy it when people say nice things about me but I also know this is not permanent. I also know when I may not have a great run at the box office. And that’s ok too. What is important is to just keep at it. I had two years in my career when none of my films were doing well. But I survived.
People still offered me some of the biggest films with the biggest producers, the biggest co-stars, biggest directors, over and over again. I believe, if that’s happening, maybe it’s a result of the love people have for me, and maybe it’s beyond my box office success. If people are giving me a chance over and over again when my films aren’t doing well, maybe the audience has liked me for who I am. When my films were not doing well, they were disappointed and now that things are looking good, I feel they have been part of my journey and can celebrate my success.
BOI: Since you don’t have a film background in the industry, do you feel vindicated?
DP: I have never looked at it like that. I have been asked that question very often but it was never really an option. It’s not like I felt dejected because I wasn’t from the industry or that I had to work even harder. It is only now when I am asked these questions that I realise that, yeah, actually I am not from the industry and I had to make it on my own. Yes, I do feel a sense of achievement because I know that wherever I have reached and the people I have known in the industry over the last six years are my own equations. I am proud because I have done it on my own.
BOI: How easy or difficult has your journey been?
DP: It was tough but that’s relative because each one has to struggle in their own way to reach where they get. To move to Mumbai at the age of 18-19, to start on my own, to not know anything about filmmaking, never mind anyone in the industry… It’s taken 10-15 films to get comfortable with myself, with the craft.
I remember walking onto the sets of Om Shanti Om and not knowing so many things, like what a crane was, what a trolley was. From there to now, my learning has been on a film set. So I have had… I won’t say a struggle… but it’s taken me a while to get here.
BOI: What were you thinking when you first walked into a film shoot and what is it like today?
DP: It’s very weird. It still feels surreal. Actually, I haven’t had the time to fully assimilate everything that is happening to me. Everything after school and college is just a blur. I have not had a moment to step out of who I am as a person and look at it objectively. So I am living this life but I don’t really know what it is like to live this life.
BOI: How has your reaction to success changed from the days of Om Shanti Om to now, when someone compliments you on how great your work is in a film?
DP: I feel the same awkwardness. I am very awkward with compliments.
BOI: But at what point did you begin feeling comfortable with the way your career was shaping up? Or are you yet to reach that point?
DP: My debut film Om Shanti Om was the ideal launch because they took good care of me and packaged me well. I played a double role, which had both a Western look and an Indian look. I played various kinds of scenes that gave me the chance to showcase my skill. It was almost like a show reel. Then I started assuming that this was what it was like to be an actress, maybe because as a director, Farah (Khan) paid attention to details like my costume and how my make-up looked.
But it’s not like that. Some directors do not function like that and will not do those things. There are some directors who expect the actress to know what they are doing and maybe that’s why somewhere I felt lost. I was inexperienced and I didn’t know what filmmaking was all about. And so maybe that’s why it took me some time to find myself in this world.