Indian film actress and model Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone (born 5 January 1986) is an Indian film actress and model. She appears mostly in Bollywood films. Born to badminton player Prakash Padukone, she chose to become an actress.

Padukone made her acting debut with the 2006 Kannada film Aishwarya. The following year, she played the lead female role in the reincarnation melodrama Om Shanti Om; the film proved a major commercial success and earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She was later noted for portraying modern, independent women in several commercially successful films, including the 2009 romantic drama Love Aaj Kal, the 2010 comedy Housefull, and the 2012 romantic comedy Cocktail. Her performance in the latter earned her unanimous critical appreciation and Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies.

Padukone made her cinematic debut in Kannada with the romantic comedy Aishwarya opposite Kannada superstar Upendra in 2006. The films emerged a commercial success. She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's blockbuster Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan. The film was a re-incarnation melodrama, featuring her in a double role. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM noted, "Deepika has all it takes to be a top star — the personality, the looks and yes, she's supremely talented too. Standing in the same frame as SRK and getting it right is no small achievement. She comes as a whiff of fresh air!".

Padukone was then seen playing a feisty, modern-day Indian woman, Gayatri, in Siddharth Anand's romantic comedy Bachna Ae Haseeno alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba. The film performed reasonably well at the box office, but her performance drew flak. Adarsh wrote, "Deepika is a sore point. Her role isn't convincing and that's the reason why this performance doesn't work. The only consolation is, she looks gorgeous."

Her first release of 2009 was Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China, in which she played a double role again. Featuring alongside Akshay Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Ranvir Shorey, it was a critical and commercial disaster, with Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India commenting, "Deepika looks lost and forlorn for most of the film."

Padukone's fourth release Love Aaj Kal proved to be one of the biggest hits of 2009 and earned critical appreciation. Directed by Imtiaz Ali and featuring Saif Ali Khan opposite Padukone, the film documented the changing value of relationships among the youth. Padukone's portrayal of Meera Pandit, a practical and head-strong career-minded woman, received a mixed reaction from critics, with NDTV's Anupama Chopra writing, "Deepika looks fabulous but she isn’t a strong enough actor to breathe life into the character." Despite this, she received her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination.

The same year, she teamed up with Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan once again for an item number in the Irrfan Khan-Lara Dutta starrer Billu. She also made guest appearances in the Telegu film Love 4 Ever and in Sohail Khan's Main Aur Mrs Khanna. 

In 2010, Padukone starred in five films, her first being Excel Entertainment’s psychological thriller Karthik Calling Karthik. Padukone featured opposite Farhan Akhtar as Shonali Mukherjee, the supportive girlfriend of a troubled schizophrenic. Critics were more appreciative of her performance this time, with Anupama Chopra noting that "Padukone finally seems to be thawing in front of a camera." However, the film underperformed at the box office, and received mixed reviews. She then featured in Sajid Khan's multistarrer comedy Housefull with Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Jiah Khan and Boman Irani. She played the role of Sandy, Kumar's girlfriend and later fiancée. Despite a largely negative reception from critics, the film became a major economic success. As for her performance, Taran Adarsh mentioned that "Deepika is a surprise. She carries her part with amazing confidence...Housefull is the film that would make people notice her talent as well as beauty".

She then appeared in her second Yash Raj production, Lafangey Parindey which was directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She starred opposite Neil Nitin Mukesh as Pinky Palkar, a blind girl, hellbent on winning a skating competition. Upon release, Padukone's performance gained critical acclaim, with Sudhish Kamath, of The Hindu writing, "This really is Deepika Padukone's film though. She exercises considerable restraint, dances, skates, makes you cry and smile." Despite this, the film received mixed reviews and performed moderately well at the box office.

Her next release was Kunal Kohli's syrupy romance Break Ke Baad opposite Imran Khan, where she played Aaliya Khan, an impetuous brat. The film was not a commercial or critical success, however won Padukone favourable reviews. Nikhat Kazmi noted, "Padukone's climactic act seems to be the best performance in her entire career: completely spontaneous, crazy and cute."

Her final release of 2010, Ashutosh Gowarikar's Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey opposite Abhishek Bachchan, met with scathing reviews and was declared a disaster. The period drama was a retelling of the 1930 Chittagong armoury raid, with Bachchan playing the revolutionary leader Surya Sen and Padukone playing Kalpana Dutta, his lover and confidante. A review carried by The Hollywood Reporter, however, mentioned her portrayal of Dutta as "impressive", with Taran Adarsh adding that "Deepika sheds her glam look and looks every bit the character she illustrates. Kudos to her first of all for accepting a challenging role [of a woman revolutionary of the 1930s] so early in her career and then almost living that character in the film, continuing to prove her mettle far ahead of her poise and exquisiteness."^[47]

She began the year 2011 with an item number in Rohan Sippy's Dum Maaro Dum starring Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu. Her song was a remixed version of Zeenat Aman's iconic song from Hare Rama Hare Krishna. The raunchy lyrics and suggestive dancing received mixed reviews. The Deccan Chronicle mentioned her moves as "mechanised gyrations", while Adarsh wrote, "Deepika scorches the screen in the title track."

Next, she featured in Prakash Jha's reservation melodrama, Aarakshan starring alongside Amitabh Bachchan, as his daughter, and Saif Ali Khan, as his love-interest. The film, though highly publicised, flopped at the box office and received mixed reviews. Pratim D. Gupta noted, "Deepika, though, is again the refreshing thing about a movie. Both her scenes with Bachchan — one where she revolts and the other where she redeems herself — show how she has come of age as an actor." Padukone next appeared in Rohit Dhawan's Desi Boyz alongside Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and Chitrangada Singh. The film, which revolved around two friends during the recession, received mixed reviews from critics, and largely due to its 'A' certificate, underperformed at the box office.

In 2012, Padukone appeared in Homi Adajania's Cocktail opposite Saif Ali Khan and Diana Penty. The film gyrated Padukone with accolades and praises, and earned her her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times wrote, "The big surprise here is Deepika, who moves beyond her usual statuesque mannequin pose and gets into the skin of the emotionally raw and needy poor little rich girl. This is easily her best performance to date." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare said, "Deepika looks ravishing and is one actress who can carry off a bikini. She’s the soul of the film and excels in every scene, whether as a material girl who enjoys sex, drugs and rock and roll or as the jealousy ridden girl out to destroy herself." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama noted, "The scene stealer is, without doubt, Deepika, who not only looks sizzling hot, but pitches in her career-best performance. She lets herself loose, surrenders to her character wholly and nails the performance. It's an incredibly noticeable act. It wouldn't be erroneous to state that Cocktail would do for Deepika what Jab We Met did for Kareena." Also, the film was a major commercial success in both the Indian box office, and overseas box office.

Padukone was last seen in the multistarrer Race 2 alongside Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel. The film received a mostly negative critical reception, unlike its predecessor. Despite this, Race 2 was a commercial success, grossing 93.50 crore(s) (US$17 million) nett approx at the domestic box office and US$6 million approx overseas, making it her biggest commericial success. Padukone received mixed reviews for her portrayal of femme fatale Elena. Whilst Taran Adarsh compliments that "Deepika has the best scenes in the film. She looks stunning and immerses herself into her character completely", Subhash K Jha notes that "[she] hardly look[s] provocative enough to be convincing as [a] femme fatale."

Following this, Padukone is all set to make her Kollywood debut in Soundarya Rajnikanth's Kochadaiyaan opposite Rajnikanth. She is also set to appear in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani opposite ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor^.

Padukone is currently filming for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Ram Leela opposite Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty's action romance film Chennai Express alongside Shahrukh Khan.