Deepika Padukone: A Fiercely Talented Girl On A Mission

After inhabiting (and shining through) a range of characters, Deepika Padukone has emerged as a fiercely talented girl on a mission. As Bollywood’s high-rolling actor gets set for her Hollywood debut, she talks to Rajeev Masand about why she’s hungry for more.

- Rajeev Masand

Deepika Padukone Can Eat : 

To be fair, she jokes about it all the time. Shoojit Sircar, who directed her in Piku (2015), when asked what he’d change about her, had said that he wishes she had a more “reasonable” appetite. Yet nothing prepares me for the sight of this slender woman, whose abs we gawked at in the Nike video, wolfing down a ravioli bolognese while poring over the dessert menu at the Soho House, Toronto, on an uncharacteristically chilly evening in June.

The place is packed, typical at suppertime on Saturdays. Phones and cameras are frowned upon in this exclusive members-only club, not that anyone seems to recognise her tonight. Perhaps that’s why she likes it here. It’s one of the half dozen places she’s discovered and routinely patronises during her four-month stay in Canada while filming xXx: Return Of Xander Cage. Most evenings, she’ll whip up a dal rice combo meal and crash out at the condo she’s renting for the duration of her shoot. Or she’ll order in a spicy soup from a Chinese takeaway. But tonight, secure in the knowledge that she isn’t required on set tomorrow, she’s savouring every sip of her Pinot Noir before settling on the pasta.