Inspiring Biography of Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone is a very popular and talented actress, producer and entrepreneur.

Introduction-

Deepika Padukone was born on 5 January 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark to Prakash Padukone and Ujjala Padukone.

Her father Prakash Padukone is a well-known former professional badminton player and was the World No. 1 badminton player in 1980.

The Government of India awarded him with many prestigious awards like Padma Shri and Arjuna award.

Her mother, Ujjala Padukone worked as a travel agent.

Deepika Padukone has a younger sister, Anisha Padukone who is a professional golf player.

When Deepika Padukone was a year old, their family moved from Denmark to Bengaluru, Karnataka.

She did her primary schooling at Sophia High School, Bengaluru and later, did her secondary schooling at Mount Carmel College.

As Deepika Padukone was very influenced by her father, she started playing badminton from her early years.

A disciplined kid-

In her school days, Deepika Padukone used to wake up every day at 5 a.m. to go to physical training, attend school and after coming home from school; she used to again practise badminton and later used to complete her homework.

As she was a very good badminton player, she played badminton at the national level championships.

During her childhood, Deepika Padukone was busy playing badminton and never thought that she would grow up to become an actor.

She also played badminton with Saina Nehwal, a former world no. 1 badminton player.

A good sportswoman-

As Deepika Padukone was tall at a height of 1.74 m, she was able to efficiently cover the badminton court.

Additionally, she was also a state level baseball player and even worked as a child model at the age of eight.

At the school, Deepika Padukone was not very interested in studying and would manage to bring above average marks.

Her parents did not pressurise her to bring great grades because they were confident that she can become successful even by not being the brightest student in the class.

But they ensured that Deepika Padukone studied decently and were strict enough to not let her fail in the school.

In her tenth grade, she developed an interest in modelling and determined to become a fashion model.

Realising her passion-

Even though Deepika Padukone played badminton really well, she was not really passionate about playing it.

As she knew that it is very difficult to become successful in badminton without being really passionate about it, she convinced her father to let her become a model.

Thankfully, Prakash Padukone agreed with her and let her become a model.

Since then, Deepika Padukone longed to become a model and wanted to perform in front of the cameras.

After finishing her schooling, she joined the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for studying Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology but she was unable to complete her college education because she became very busy in modelling.

Later, Deepika Padukone started modelling professionally.

Helped by her aunt-

Anila Anand, a popular model coordinator saw the potential in Deepika Padukone and encouraged her to become a model.

Anila Anand is a family friend of Deepika Padukone and she fondly calls her aunt.

In school, Deepika Padukone was the best friend of Kavya Anand, the daughter of Anila Anand.

Anila Anand wanted to help her to become a model, so she requested Ujjala Padukone to enrol her daughter into modelling.

Later, she gave Deepika Padukone the opportunities to model for some of the best electronic and clothing brands.

Soon, she started receiving many opportunities to act in advertisements and fashion shows.

Becoming the Liril Girl-

R. Balki (R. Balakrishnan), the former Group Chairman of the advertising agency Lowe Lintas gave Deepika Padukone a big break in ads.

Once, he came to Bengaluru and was searching for a model to act in the Liril ad.

Later, when R. Balki reached Chennai, he accidentally noticed Deepika Padukone on a hoarding of Limca and he was confident that she was apt to act in the Liril ad.

So, he tracked down her with the help of the marketing agency and then called Ujjala Padukone and requested her to send Deepika Padukone to the audition of the Liril ad.

Fortunately, Ujjala Padukone agreed to this and allowed her daughter to go to Mumbai to take part in the audition.

When Deepika Padukone was returning to the hotel after finishing the audition, R. Balki phoned her to inform her that she got selected.

He informed her that they must leave for Jaipur the next day for the shooting of the ad.

Soon, Ujjala Padukone arrived at Bombay to accompany Deepika Padukone to Jaipur and it took another three to four days to finish the shooting.

During the shooting, even though everything was going well, Ujjala Padukone was worried because the temperature at Jaipur was very hot at around 42°C and she feared that this might impact the health of her daughter.

She was concerned that this might negatively affect Deepika Padukone’s tenth grade exams.

This television commercial became very popular and soon, she started receiving modelling offers from many brands.

Her first film offer-

Immediately after the success of the Liril ad film, Deepika Padukone received a film offer from Salman Khan, an Indian film actor.

As the producer of the Liril ad and Salman Khan were very good friends, he considered her for his film Lucky: No Time for Love.

Even though Deepika Padukone was very excited to act in the film, she rejected the offer because during that time she was not ready to become an actor.

Starting her full-time modelling career-

In 2004, Deepika Padukone started her full-time modelling career under the guidance of Prasad Bidapa, a fashion stylist and choreographer.

Later, she appeared in several television commercials and did modelling for some famous brands like Dabur, Limca, Closeup, etc.

In 2005, Deepika Padukone made her ramp debut during the Lakme Fashion Week and was awarded Model of the Year award at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards.

Appearing in the Kingfisher Calendar-

Deepika Padukone had an aunt in Mumbai who very well knew Atul Kasbekar, the man behind the Kingfisher Calendar shoots.

She called Deepika Padukone’s mother and convinced her to accompany her daughter to Mumbai and promised to offer her a chance to appear in the Kingfisher Calendar.

So, Deepika Padukone accompanied by her mother arrived at Mumbai and met Atul Kasbekar.

He was stunned upon seeing her and instantly gave her a chance.

After getting selected to the Kingfisher Calendar (Kingfisher Bikini Calendar), Deepika Padukone received training to improve her accent and dance.

Later, she took part in the 2006 Kingfisher Calendar (Kingfisher Bikini Calendar).

The shooting for this calendar took place in Australia and came out very well and this helped Deepika Padukone’s popularity to skyrocket.

During the same year, she was awarded Fresh face of the year and Female Model of the Year awards at the Idea Zee F Awards.

Shifting to Mumbai, the City of Dreams-

After becoming very successful in modelling, at the age of 21, Deepika Padukone shifted from Bengaluru to her aunt’s house in Mumbai on her own.

Initially, as she did not have a house in Mumbai, she started staying with her aunt in Andheri, West Mumbai.

For Deepika Padukone, having a safe shelter was of paramount importance and so, she was content to live in the humble house of her aunt.

For nearly one to two years, she managed to live out of a suitcase.

Her mother was very worried for Deepika Padukone because while living at Andheri, she used to participate in the late night shootings and shows for which she used to travel alone by auto rickshaws and taxis.

In the initial days, she faced numerous difficulties but the hardships were unable to distract her from her goal of becoming an actress and she was very much focused on her goal.

Also, Deepika Padukone had a great drive towards realising her goal and this gave her the strength to go through all those hardships.

Later, she shifted to her first rented apartment in Bandra after staying with her aunt for nearly one to two years.

Appearing in Naam Hai Tera-

During the year 2006, Himesh Reshammiya was searching for a new face to appear in his music video song, Naam Hai Tera.

He selected Deepika Padukone for this song because he saw the potential in her.

Naam Hai Tera was the second song of the album and the previous song shot with Minissha Lamba was a hit.

So, the expectations on Naam Hai Tera were high and Deepika Padukone lived up to the expectations and played a pivotal role in the success of the song.

This video song became so successful that Himesh Reshammiya immediately produced its remix.

Naam Hai Tera helped to present her well and she started receiving offers to act in Hindi films.

But at that time, Deepika Padukone believed herself as an inexperienced actress, so she joined the Anupam Kher’s film academy, Actor Prepares – The School for Actor, a drama school in Mumbai to learn acting.

Farah Khan, an Indian film director and producer was impressed by Deepika Padukone when she saw her in the Naam Hai Tera and so, she casted her for the film Happy New Year.

But this film was postponed until 2014.

Her first film-

In 2006, Deepika Padukone made her acting debut by acting in the film Aishwarya, alongside with the actor Upendra.

Aishwarya is a Kannada film and was released on 15 September 2006.

Later, Farah Khan decided to cast Deepika Padukone for Om Shanti Om.

Farah Khan took the 2006 Kingfisher Calendar and the Naam Hai Tera album and went to Australia to convince Shahrukh Khan.

During that time, he was shooting the Chak De! India movie in Australia.

Farah Khan showed Shahrukh Khan the Kingfisher Calendar and the music video and convinced him that she will be the best fit for the role of Shantipriya in Om Shanti Om.

Luckily, he agreed to her and later, Farah Khan called Deepika Padukone to meet her.

When Deepika Padukone met her, she was unable to believe her eyes and she was informed that she had to pass the audition to get a chance to act with Shahrukh Khan.

She passed the audition in which a photo-shoot was conducted and she was also asked to do a bharatyanatyam pose.

Debuting in Bollywood alongside Shahrukh Khan-

Deepika Padukone was very lucky because she got a chance to debut in her first movie alongside Shahrukh Khan just after modelling for two years.

She is a very big fan of him and grew up watching his movies, so this was the dream come true for her.

Finally, in 2007, Deepika Padukone stepped into Bollywood by acting in Om Shanti Om.

This movie became a blockbuster not only in India but also around the globe and this film grossed over ₹1.50 billion worldwide and stood as the highest-grossing film of 2007 in India.

For Deepika Padukone’s acting in this film, she was awarded Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut.

Later, she acted in some movies like Lafangey Parindey and Break Ke Baad and in some super hit movies like Bachna Ae Haseeno, Love Aaj Kal and Housefull.

For the movie Chandni Chowk To China (2009), Deepika Padukone also learned jujutsu (jujitsu), a Japanese martial art and performed the stunts without the use of a body double.

But this movie did not perform well and because of this, few people began to question her acting skills.

Reviving her career-

Thankfully, Deepika Padukone’s acting career was completely revived by the film Cocktail (2012).

Cocktail was a hit and after this movie she never looked back again and acted in several super hit movies like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, etc.

Deepika Padukone is one of the few Bollywood actresses who can easily fit in both the modern and traditional characters.

The qualities of hard work and dedication helped her to become super successful in Bollywood despite not having a godfather.

Deepika Padukone is also a fabulous dancer and obtained formal training in bharatyanatyam, a famous Indian classical dance.

The year 2013 proved to be her luckiest year, as in that year she acted in four top-grossing films namely Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela.

Also, six of Deepika Padukone’s movies namely Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Happy New Year and Bajirao Mastani  grossed over 100 crore Indian rupees.

Thanks to her remarkable acting skills, she has been awarded three Filmfare Awards, one for Om Shanti Om (2007) and two for Best Actress for Piku (2015).

Debuting in Hollywood-

Deepika Padukone made her Hollywood debut by acting in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, in this film she acted in the lead role alongside Vin Diesel, a famous American actor, producer and director.

This film was released on January 5, 2017 and grossed over $346 million globally.

In 2018, Deepika Padukone has been named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the popular Time magazine.

In 2020, two of her movies, Chhapaak and ’83 are scheduled to be released.

Apart from being an actress, Deepika Padukone is also an opinion columnist and is also associated with the women’s health and fitness magazines like Women’s Health magazine.

Dealing with depression-

Depression is a mental health disorder which can affect anyone and according to the World Health Organisation, India is the most depressed country in the world.

In 2014, when Deepika Padukone’s career was in its peaks, she started suffering from depression.

On one morning, she noticed a strange empty and pettish feeling in her stomach and started feeling low, directionless and clueless.

These feelings did not go away even when Deepika Padukone reminded herself of the awards and appreciations she received.

Fortunately, her mother saw her crying and was quick to notice that something was wrong with her previously cheerful daughter.

Ujjala Padukone assumed that Deepika Padukone might have been suffering from depression because she had previously known some of her family members who suffered from depression.

Because of the depression, she sometimes felt completely normal but sometimes she felt like crying.

So, Deepika Padukone would often lock herself and cry and also she lost her appetite and developed a feeling of heaviness in her head.

On the film sets, she would go into her van and cry.

During some days, Deepika Padukone used to feel very exhausted even to wake up from her sleep and so, she used to feel not to wake up at all and just keep sleeping.

Sometimes, her mood would get improved when she stayed around the people but during the other times, this did not help.

Deepika Padukone compared suffering from depression to going to hell.

Recovering from depression-

Thankfully, during the difficult time, her family extended her the much needed support.

Ujjala Padukone encouraged Deepika Padukone to seek medical support for depression.

Eventually, the doctors Anna Chandy and Shyam Bhat helped her to overcome depression.

After suffering from depression, Deepika Padukone started reading a lot and started better understanding the conditions around her.       

Depression taught her many important life lessons like the value of life, people, emotions, happiness and the importance of being peaceful from inside.

Deepika Padukone publicly spoke about her depression to positively impact the lives of the people suffering from depression.

Social responsibility-

In October 2015, Deepika Padukone founded The Live Love Laugh Foundation to help the people suffering from mental health issues and reduce the stigma surrounding the mental ailments.

Additionally, she is also associated with a not for profit sports organisation, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ).

Olympic Gold Quest was founded in 2001 by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone and is involved with supporting the best athletes in India to win the Olympic Gold medals.

Deepika Padukone had also supported many NGOs (non-Governmental Organisations) and performed stage shows.

Getting married-

On 14 November 2018, Deepika Padukone married Ranveer Singh, an Indian actor at Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como, Italy.

Her hobbies-

Deepika Padukone’s hobbies include spending quality time with her family and friends, cooking meals, journeying on the family vacations, being creatively satisfied with her films, acting in the challenging roles in movies, etc.

She also values receiving awards especially the Filmfare awards on stage.

Deepika Padukone is nicknamed as Deepz and Deepi.

Her success secrets-

Deepika Padukone was able to overcome the obstacles because she learned to be patient and always believed in herself and was well aware that there will be difficult times and the things will not always go in her way according to her expectations.

Always believe in your vision-

You must always believe in yourself and in your vision because not everyone around you will believe in your vision and many times you will also encounter the people who will discourage you, belittle your efforts and may even force you to give up working on your dreams.

Since her childhood, Deepika Padukone had a lot of clarity regarding her dreams and is extremely ambitious.

Her fighting spirit also helped her to achieve great heights in every area of her life.

When someone doubts Deepika Padukone’s capabilities, she works very hard to not only prove her doubters wrong but also to prove herself her capability.

Stay hungry to become successful-

Deepika Padukone’s quality of never being satiated with her successes keeps her motivated to achieve even more.

Incredible sense of individuality-

Deepika Padukone possesses a strong sense of individuality and this becomes apparent in her selection of roles and movies.

Even though she appreciates the other actresses and their films, she takes a great care to not copy them and walks her own path because she prefers to be remembered for her unique style, films and values.

Deepika Padukone also chooses to experiment with her film career as she does not want to regret anything a few years down the line.

This is the reason why she chose to act in a Hollywood film XXX: Return of Xander Cage.

You should also try new things in your life, it will be great if the things work out and if they don’t work out, you will at least be satisfied that you have tried.

The most important thing-

Job satisfaction is the most important thing to become successful and to be at peace with ourselves.

It is even more important than the money because if you are not satisfied or happy with your work, then you cannot feel blissful even after being wealthy and able to afford anything in the world.

When you choose your passion as your profession, then eventually the money flows in.

Even though Deepika Padukone was good at playing badminton, as she was not satisfied with it, she left it and made her passion of acting as her profession.

Now, she is one of the highest paid actresses in the world.

The right attitude-

Deepika Padukone’s right attitude helped her to become very successful.

While many people blame the luck for not becoming successful, she always puts more onus on utilising the opportunities than merely waiting for the luck.

The importance of making sacrifices-

Deepika Padukone made many sacrifices in her life to realise her dream of becoming a successful actress.

For her, the biggest sacrifice was leaving her family in Bengaluru and moving away to Mumbai on her own.

Deepika Padukone badly missed her family because of this.

Also, she is fond of eating sweets and chocolates but she sacrificed eating them because as an actress, she has to avoid or limit eating them, in order to stay physically fit.

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