It is just after noon on a sunny Friday in Mumbai when I am driving into Beau Monde Towers to meet Deepika Padukone. The security at the gate asks whether I want to go to her home or the office. “The office,” I reply. That’s the 30th floor then, just a few flights up from the apartment she has lived in in the posh gated community in Prabhadevi for 12 years, and shares with her husband of five years, actor Ranveer Singh. It is telling that the glamorous movie star has her personal and her official spaces in the same edifice, almost as if her heart and her head are of commensurate consequence.
They clearly are. Padukone is having the most unusual year: 2023 began with the biggest blockbuster Hindi cinema has seen since Dangal (2016)—Pathaan—headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham and Padukone; it has collected around ₹1,050 crore (and counting) globally. Padukone’s net worth has reportedly snowballed to ₹500 crore this year, thanks to her investments in multiple startups, making her the richest female Indian celebrity. She was valued at ₹300 crore in 2020.
Since 2016-2017, Padukone has been among the highest taxpayers in India, and the only female actor to be in the list of top 10 highest taxpayers. That year, she paid over ₹10 crore in taxes, and has retained her position in that list ever since. As per a Forbes report, she earned ₹48 crore in 2019 and beat celebrities like cricketer Rohit Sharma, actors Rajinikanth and Ajay Devgn to enter India’s top 10 rich list of celebrities.
Her carefully orchestrated career is a conscious decision, Padukone admits. “I think like an athlete…. My discipline comes from my sports background,” she explains.
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