Deepika Padukone: From the minute I land in Dubai I feel we are home

And Deepika Padukone has more than lived up to if her career trajectory is anything to go by. The state-level badminton player-turned-model has had a dream run in Bollywood so far. And she credits Dubai to a certain extent for her smooth sailing in the industry. “Dubai and London are two places I feel extremely connected with”, the actress tells us in an exclusive chat during her visit to Dubai to promote Chennai Express last week.

“I didn’t feel like a newcomer when the music launch of Om Shanti Om was held in Dubai. The love and appreciation I got from the people here made me feel I was already on top of my game. And that is an amazing feeling. That love hasn’t changed even today. The fact is from the minute I land in Dubai I feel we are home. I don’t ever feel that I am in a foreign country.”

Om Shanti Om with its kitschy plot line and attendant melodrama may have catapulted her into the big league – but Padukone has more than proved she is no one-film wonder. Be it as the plucky Pinky Palkar in Lafangey Parindey, or the uninhibited free-thinking Veronica Malaney in Cocktail, Padukone has always reveled in pushing the envelope when it suits her.

In Chennai Express, which reunites her with her first co-star, she plays a small-town-girl “who is an expert at running away from home” in Khan’s words.

But when we ask her if the role finds any reflection in her own life, she is quick to deny it. “I have always been supported in my decision to be part of the film industry. They (my parents) have always given me what I wanted or made me realise there is a time and place for everything.”

So is hers the classic case of being at the right place at the right time? “I don’t over-analyse the process of choosing films. And I don’t look at films as projects. I enjoy doing films, not projects. I think a lot of time you can have a lot of good people coming together but it need not necessarily result in a good film.” Perhaps a reference to movies like Aarakshan and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which despite its stellar cast and crew failed to create an impact at the box office.

But as far as Chennai Express is concerned she need have no worries. The Rohit Shetty directed action-comedy seems to have all the trappings of a blockbuster –the kind of movie that is likely to appeal to the masses during the festive season.

And of course there is Shah Rukh Khan. Co-stars gushing over each other on the eve of their movie’s release is a given in Bollywood. But Padukone and Khan take it to a wholly different level. She is measured in her praise for him – and he in turn can’t stop gushing over her. “As an actor Deepika doesn’t come with any star baggage. You can tell her to do whatever you want and she will try it. The best part about acting with her is that she is not cock-sure. She is like a newcomer even now despite having worked for five-six years in the industry.”

Heavy praise coming from someone who has co-starred with practically every A-list actress in Bollywood.

Even when we try and prod him on what he’d like to change about her, Khan is his usual charming self: “Why would you change anything about Deepika Padukone? She is the epitome of what an ideal woman should be like.”

A sentiment shared by millions of fans who will be hopefully flocking to theatres this Eid to see the actress twirling around in her kanjeevaram saris and spouting one-liners with a heavy – if sometimes misplaced – Southern accent.

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