Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmaavat, features in the TIME’s list of 100 most influential people. She has been ranked along with other Indian celebrities, including cricketer Virat Kohli, Ola Cabs’ co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella, Pakistani-born American actor Kumail Nanjiani, and several others.
Vin Diesel, who co-starred with Deepika in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, said she is “not just here to represent India, she’s here to represent the world.”
“Deepika is the best Earth has to offer,” he said, adding that her “synchronicity, a synergy, a chemistry” when he met her for one of the movies of the Fast and Furious franchise. While she couldn’t work for that movie, Diesel said he “never gave up” and she was the first role to be cast in xXx: Return of Xander Cage.
The list also included Big Little Lies actress Nicole Kidman, Wonder Women starrer Gal Gadot, Prince Harry, actress Meghan Markle, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is an openly gay son of an Indian immigrant, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and singer Rihanna.
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Kumail Nanjiani, who starred in The Big Sick, a story from his own life, is also in the list. Director Judd Apatow wrote a profile on him, describing him as “the new comedic voice that we need”.
“He reminds people how fundamental a misunderstanding it is that a community of almost 2 billion people is to be feared. We’re lucky to have Kumail. We need a thousand more,” he wrote.