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‘TOOK ME TWO MINUTES TO SAY YES TO CHHAPAAK’
due to the reluctance to back such content. “I Am couldn’t find a satellite backer (they said) ‘it’s alternate content, X Y Z’… but I remain positive. I am glad about what we did then. It will be interesting to see more content like it, where no extra attention is brought to things like that in your characters,” says the 48-year old.
Rishabh Suri
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!’.”
When actor Pulkit Samrat was paired opposite Kriti Kharbanda for the first time in Veerey Ki Wedding (2018), little did he know that this film would end up playing cupid between the two. Pulkit, who paired up with Kriti again in Pagalpanti (2019), says that apart from sharing a great bond on-screen, they are great work partners as well.
“Kriti is a thorough professional and working with her is such a great learning experience. She is a director and producer’s favourite because of her spontaneity. As her costar, I feel it becomes very interesting and fun to work and giving an okay shot in one take,” says Pulkit, who would again be seen sharing screen with Kriti in Bejoy Nambiar’s Taish.
The 36-year-old goes on to say that Kriti often reminds him of actor Juhi Chawla. “Kriti is very charismatic, bubbly, and has great comic timing like Juhi Chawla. She looks stunning, she is cute, she is hot, she is the girl next door and she is one of those touch-me-not girls.”
Given that Kriti has had a fairly good stint with her recent releases – Housefull 4 and Pagalpanti, Pulkit feels proud of the fact that her career is shaping up quite well and that she is making her way up in the industry. And the two are keeping their work on priority before settling down. “We have a lot to achieve at the professional front and whenever is the right time, we’ll take the leap. Right now, our focus is work. Marriage will happen when it has to happen,” Pulkit signs off.