Deepika Padukone on 15 years in Hindi cinema: Hope the journey always continues

Between being a blank slate and someone who is certain about their skills Deepika Padukone says she wishes to be a blend of both as the actor completes 15 years in Hindi cinema in 2022 The former model made her Bollywood debut with 2007s reincarnation romantic drama Om Shanti Om and has built a filmography boasting titles like Love Aaj Kal Cocktail Piku Goliyon Ki Raasleela RamLeela and Padmaavat among othersIt has been so much about learning processing understanding growing evolving I hope that journey for me always continues Padukone who made her film debut with the 2006 Kannada movie Aishwarya said She formed her own production company Ka Productions in 2018 under which she produced and starred in Chhapaak 2020 and 83 2021 Also an entrepreneur Padukone is the founder of the Live Love Laugh Foundation which creates awareness on mental health in IndiaThe 36yearold actor who has also starred in the Hollywood film XXX Return of Xander Cage 2017 said she hopes to keep evolving as a person and professional I dont walk on to the set with the thought that Im so many films old or I know better than all of you My approach is what I can learn from the set of these new people Its a new film director and experience 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 its a bit of both The scariest thing that can happen is to stagnate Padukone told PTI in an interview over ZoomNext up for her is Gehraiyaan a drama on modernday relationships It also stars Siddhant Chaturvedi Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa with Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapur in pivotal roles In the Shakun Batra directorial Padukone plays Alisha whom she simply described as human The actor said the film is an attempt to instill empathy in the audience towards all types of peopleThe process of this film has made me realise theres no white black or grey Its actually human We categorise characters because we just dont know characters like this enough in cinema Its 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 thatAlisha is an ambitious person with baggage from the past who is seeking a better life she said adding that women with ambition are often judged by societyA lot of times ambition is addressed in a negative way especially when a woman is ambitious Characters like her get judged Its ok to be ambitious and want a better life The minute there is emotion empathy and understanding youre with the character she saidWhen 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 said she took her time to give her nod to the project after Batra narrated the story to herRoles 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 commitmentBut the minute I make that commitment I dont really think about how difficult it is All Im 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 Thats the way it is While it is an extremely realistic and layered character she said there are light moments to Alisha It has been both exhausting and fun she addedJointly backed by Dharma Productions and Viacom18 Studios in association with Batras Jouska Films Gehraiyaan is an Amazon Original film which will start streaming from February 11 The film is also garnering attention for being one of the first Indian projects to have an intimacy director on board Dar Gai an Indiabased Ukraineborn filmmaker is credited as the intimacy director on GehraiyaanPadukone said intimacy is part of the movie and not the main 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 modernday relationships Its 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 addedAfter Gehraiyaan Padukone has films like Pathan Project K and Fighter on her slate Pathan reunites the actor with Shah Rukh Khan her costar of three films Om Shanti Om Chennai Express and Happy New Year Directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Yash Raj Films the film is expected to be released by 2022 end she saidWe 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 Ashwins scifi movie Project K will see Padukone opposite Baahubali star Prabhas In Fighter also directed by Anand she will share the screen with Hrithik RoshanI started Project K with Prabhas two months ago we are doing it in multiple languages Its a pan India film Ill start shooting for Fighter in the next couple of months All these are with different actors stories and directors Im looking forward to all of them she addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever