Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone is a leading actress in (mainly) Hindi-language Indian cinema. After a successful modeling career, Padukone shifted into acting but struggled in her early big-screen years from 2006 to 2011 with a mix of flops and hits. Padukone’s turning point happened with her acclaimed starring turn in Cocktail (2012), directed by Homi Adajania, followed by a consecutive string of box-office hits in 2013, including director Abbas-Mustan’s action movie, Race 2, with Saif Ali Khan and John Abraham; director-writer Ayan Mukerji’s Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani/Youth is Crazy, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Kalki Koechlin; the Rohit Shetty-directed action comedy, Chennai Express, co-starring Shah Rukh Khan, and earning over $17 million and seven Filmfare nominations; and co-writer/director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s romantic tragedy based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela/A Dance of Bullets: Ram-Leela, co-starring Ranveer Singh and released by Eros International.

Padukone did her first voice performance in an animated movie, the Eros International-backed Tamil-language Kochadaiiyaan (2014), with the voices of Rajinikanth and Shobana under Soundarya Rajinikanth’s direction. Padukone then co-starred in her first English-language movie, Finding Fanny (2014), with Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Pankaj Kapur, and Arjun Kapoor, under co-writer Homi Adajania’s direction for Fox Star Studios.

Deepika Padukone reunited with Shah Rukh Khan as co-stars of co-writer/director Farah Khan’s action comedy, Happy New Year (2014), with Amitabh Bachchan and Sonu Sood, delivering nearly $65 million returns for distributor Yash Raj Films, and then Padukone won Filmfare Award’s best actress prize for her turn in the title role of the Shoojit Sircar-directed comedy-drama, Piku (2015), co-starring Amitabh and Irrfan Khan. Padukone co-starred with Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra in director/co-writer/producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 18th-century epic, Bajirao Mastani (2015), based on Nagnath S. Inamdar’s novel, Rau, followed by Padukone performing in her first Hollywood movie, the sequel XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), starring Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, and Toni Collette, and grossing over $346 million globally for Paramount Pictures.

Padukone reunited with filmmaker/composer Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the title role in Padmaavat (2018), the first Indian movie released in IMAX 3D by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and grossing over $69 million worldwide. Padukone took on the double duties of star and producer for her next two features—director/co-writer/co-producer Meghna Gulzar’s biopic and box-office failure, Chhapaak (2020), and director-writer Kabir Khan’s sports-themed biopic, 83 (2021), co-starring Ranveer Singh and earning good reviews but low box-office returns for distributor PVR Pictures.

Deepika Padukone teamed up again with Shah Rukh Khan on two consecutive movies: the Siddarth Anand-directed thriller, Pathaan (2023), grossing a knockout $130 million globally for Yash Raj Films; and debuting co-writer/director Atlee’s thriller, Jawan (2023), in which Padukone made a special appearance. Padukone co-starred with Hrithik Roshan and Anil Kapoor in co-writer/director Siddarth Anand’s military thriller, Fighter (2024), and in the same year, Padukone starred in one of her few Hindi and Telugu-language movies, writer-director Nag Ashwin’s sci-fi epic, Kalki 2898 AD (2024), co-starring Prabhas and Amitabh Bachchan; and then played a featured role in director/co-writer/producer Rohit Shetty’s action movie, Singham Again (2024), the fifth installment in Shetty’s “Cop Universe” series.

Padukone reunited once again with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan for Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s comedy-drama remake of writer-director Nancy Meyers’ Hollywood original, The Intern (date to be announced), with Neena Gupta.