‘I am planning to take a long holiday’ – ‘Deepika Padukone’ in conversation with ‘G9 Divya Solgama’
‘DeepikaPadukone’ started the year 2015 with her charming performance in ‘Piku’ followed by her mesmerizing appearance in ‘Tamasha’ and is ready to strike the hat trick of good films with her latest release ‘BajiraoMastani’. Our Bollywood Guide ‘G9 DivyaSolgama’ had the pleasure of speaking with her where she spoke about her film ‘BajiraoMastani’,Ranveer Singh and superstar ‘Salman Khan’.
Deepika, ‘BajiraoMastani’ is a period action drama which has lots of action, drama and dance associated with it. So as per you what was more difficult,action scenes or the dramatic portions.
DeepikaPadukone – The physically demanding scenes were very tough, especially the songs. In fact, actually the songs are what I found the most difficult followed by the horse riding and sword fighting. The scenes and all were fine but somehow the songs were something where the real difficulty was. Somehow with Sanjay LeelaBhansali, I find the songs the most difficult. The minute there is a song coming up I get very stressed I don’t know why, maybe it’s because of what he expects from me or how he visualizes the songs, I don’t know what it is. I remember ‘DewaniMastani’ was the last song that I had to shoot after that I still had the climax of the film left. I finished the song and I was like yes, I’m done, this is done. I was taking out all my vengeance and somebody came and told me that you’re not done, you still have the climax to shoot. I replied back by saying that the climax is easy that’s ok I’m done with song and that was the most difficult part of working in a film like ‘BajiraoMastani’. Even in ‘Ram Leela’, I found the songs very difficult, but this time around I was mentally better prepared because I knew what I’d been through. I took a lot of precaution this time because during ‘Nagada’ song chunks of my skin had come off. I had done the whole song with tape on my feet, they had to clean it up in the post. Even the earring that’s AnjuModi had given me were so heavy that my earlobe would bleed on.But for ‘BajiraoMastani’, I was cautious and the jewelry that they gave me had the same kind of effect but they were made with a diff material so they were made lighter and wore proper shoes before performing as we’ve had an experience so we knew what to correct. Still that wasn’t enough. My precautions worked when we shot ‘Pinga’, but I remember when I shot the kathak dance I wanted to give up, I didn’t want to shoot anymore, I was so exhausted that I didn’t want to do it. So for me these grand dances were the toughest part of the film.
Your character in the film ‘BajiraoMastani’ is a historical character. So how was it portraying this real life character and at any point during the shoot of the film, did you relate to this character of ‘Mastani’.
DeepikaPadukone – As an actor it becomes a little restrictive in terms of what all you can do with the character that is not fictional. You have reference points; you have certain parameters and certain boundaries within which one has to perform. In that sense, it becomes restrictive as compared to a character that is completely fictional that is born out of a writers mind and it’s given to an actor to perform then the possibilities are endless. Both are challenging and exciting in its own way. But now because I’m playing a character which is not fictional. I can say that it is little more restrictive. There is that much and you have to work within that. Regarding the reliability with the character, there is a lot of Mastani that is very relatable. Inspiring because of what all she went through and what all she stood for. But I feel that other than the period itself I found her character extremely relatable because of the kind of woman she was. How brave she was, how strong she was, how determined she was at the same time how fragile and vulnerable she was. I find that qualities of her are there in each one of us that is why I find that Mastani is going to be relatable yet inspiring at the same time for many females.
Deepika, this year you had back to back three performance oriented films – ‘Piku’, ‘Tamasha’ and ‘BajiraoMastani’. So how tough was it for you to keep juggling between these films and the complicated characters you performed.
DeepikaPadukone – Very tough, in fact for me a lot of my preparation was the mental preparation and within that the mental preparation was to tell myself that I’m going to be juggling between three very different films, three very different filmmakers and most importantly three very different characters. To constantly keep jumping from one to another was obviously not the most ideal situation for me, I wish I could do one film at a time and focus on that. But at the same time that would lead to drop out or not do some of the other films which I would not have allowed ever. Of course when I look back now I feel very proud of the work that I’ve done but it was also mentally very exhausting. Thus I am planning to take a long holiday. And I think I deserve that.
Deepika, kindly share something with us about the working experience with your co-actor Ranveer Singh from ‘BajiraoMastani’.
DeepikaPadukone – While working for this movie Ranveer was totally serious as he is someone who love to be the character of that film. So this time there were no jokes nor any pranks. When he used to walk on to set he wanted to be called as Bajirao. He did not like to be called by his name. That’s how much he gets into character if any of the assistant directors referred to him by said Ranveer your shot is ready, he won’t respond. On this particular film and ‘Ram Leela’, they were not too much joking and fooling around. Maybe in ‘Ram Leela’ there were still some lighter scenes in the initial part of the films over here there was no scope for that. He has this high energy within him and I am aware of his personality. Difference is I don’t try to keep up with him I’m very comfortable with where I am and with who I am. I respect and understand his energy level and why he is that he is he. This is how we have a comfortable working experience with each other.
Deepika, since long time cine lovers have been wanting to see you work with the superstar Salman Khan. Many times you also expressed your desire to work with him and so has Salman in couple of his interviews. So is there anything in pipeline, have you been approached for ‘Sultan’ or any other film with him.
DeepikaPadukone – I haven’t signed any film. I don’t think it’s fair for actors to talk about the film that they have been approached for. The only thing that you should as an actor talk about is a film that you are definitely doing. Because eventually that is the only thing that matters. Films are remembered for people who do them eventually. ‘Sultan’ will belong to the people who do that film. It’s not my film because I’m not a part of that film. Regarding working with Salman Khan, I want to, after that episode (Big Boss), many felt people felt that we were trying to do some kind of screen test or checking out our chemistry. It wasn’t to test whether we had chemistry or not. Salman can create chemistry with anyone. A lot of directors messaged me we saw the episode you have to do a film with Salman. Of course I want to do a film with him. It has to be the right film and at the right time.
Lastly, throw some light over your association with Hollywood star Vin Diesel and his blockbuster film ‘XXX’.
DeepikaPadukone – I don’t know what you are talking about (laughs). How do you’ll know, when I only don’t know? To set the record straight, as we speak, I’ve signed no film as of 2016. I’ve not signed any film. “BajiraoMastani’ is my last release in hand. Though, I am open to the idea (Hollywood) creatively; it’s the same way I did a film like ‘Finding Fanny’, I tried to do something different. So of course I’d like to explore working in a different set up and a different environment. As of now I haven’t signed anything.
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