Deepika Padukone turns 34 today. The actress who started out as a model, made her acting debut in the Kannada film Aishwarya 14 years back. Her Bollywood film Om Shanti Om in 2007 was the one that really established her in the Hindi film industry. Ten years later, in 2017 Padukone found herself at the receiving end of death threats and the release of her film Padmaavat was briefly stalled. However, there is no stopping this actor. She handled the threats to her life and the vicious attack from Karni Sena with enviable restraint.
Two years after Padmaavat, Padukone has a movie coming out this week. Chhapaak will release on January 5, 2020. It is about Malti, a young woman who is attacked with acid and whose face and body are permanently disfigured because of it. The story is told from Malti’s point of view and is based on the story of activist and acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.
Chhapaak is being directed and co-produced by Meghna Gulzar and bankrolled by Fox Star Studios and co-produced by Deepika Padukone (Ka Productions). The also stars Vikrant Massey in the lead.
On the occasion of Deepika Padukone’s birthday, here’s a quick look at three of her best performances:
Piku Banerjee in Piku (2015)
Piku
Independent and individualistic, Piku is smart and has a mind of her own. However, her father, Bhaskor, isn’t exactly making her life easy. A man who takes his poop so seriously, Piku indulges her father and cares for him without saying many words. A role that has a female lead who is so close to reality, someone who endures the difficulty of work and taking care of a single parent, someone who takes a break sometimes and gets her mojo back because that’s who she is.
Not only was Piku one of Deepika’s most memorable film, she also proved her mettle as an actress in a story so simple and yet so heartwarming.
Tara in Tamasha (2015)
DPP
Tamasha as a film got all the praise two years after its release. At the time of its release, the film’s story was considered haphazard, its characters flaky and confusing. But somewhere down the road, people regarded it as something like fine wine that gets better with age. Many felt Tamasha‘s Tara was selfish and didn’t try to understand Ved much. Soon enough, you realise that one couldn’t really blame her.
Playing Tara was emotionally exhausting for Deepika, a role where a woman realises that things might never be the same. The break-up scene is perhaps one of the most poignant scenes in the film, where Deepika convinces us that those tears could be real.
Angie in Finding Fanny (2014)
Dee
Finding Fanny wasn’t exactly an indie film. It had Bollywood A-listers speaking in English and doing quirky, regular things. The film’s story sounds funny and was executed in such a way that all these quirky characters’ were bizarre in their own ways and yet, considered it all, normal.
Deepika Padukone as the young widow whose husband dies on the day of their wedding, is spunky, almost ethereal, and yet grounded enough to have simple dreams. The role demanded her to be more subtle with fewer dialogues but focusing more on her body language. And she gave us some serious fashion goals too with her summery dresses and skirts. Her performance in Finding Fanny is easily one of the most underrated ones in her acting career.
