‘TOOK ME TWO MINUTES TO SAY YES TO CHHAPAAK’
For Deepika Padukone, it was the subject of her latest film that motivated her to produce it, too
She has always spoken her mind, and her films are a reflection of how intelligent her choices are. Some may think that being one of the most sought after actors in Bollywood, Deepika Padukone would prefer to play it safe and stick to conventional films, but her latest, Chhapaak, has taken everyone by surprise.
Not only is it perhaps the first Bollywood film to be made on acid attack violence, Deepika also made the role her own, which has led to Chhapaak getting rave reviews.
“The subject itself was what motivated me to produce this,” Deepika says when we ask why she didn’t turn producer with any commercial potboiler, adding, “I think I’m at a place in my life today where everything I do needs to, in my opinion, be meaningful. Through my work, I’d like to be able to create some sort of positive impact on people and the society.”
What took everyone aback was when Deepika released her first look as acid attack survivor Malti, her name in the film, based on the life of an acid attack survivor turned activist, Laxmi Agarwal. Deepika has been a constant in the list of ‘Most Beautiful’ women and actors in the world. But through her film, however, her character spreads the message that beauty is something that’s internal. How tough was it for her to play and understand the character?
She is quick to say, “It took me all of two minutes to be able to decide to be a part of this film. Beauty is what people consider me to be. Similarly, there are things around me which I consider beautiful. For me, Laxmi is extremely beautiful. We’ve known beauty for many years to be ‘tall, fair and light eyes’.”
The film’s aim was much more than that, Deepika goes on to tell us, “That is what I am, and I’m not apologetic about the way I look. The idea of this was to broaden the perspective of what beauty is. We have learnt that from generations, but we tried to challenge that through this film. Hopefully, people will broaden their own understanding of what beauty is. I saw myself in the mirror for the first time after the prosthetics, and said ‘I feel exactly like myself, nothing has changed!’.”