Deepika Padukone
What is Deepika Padukone known for?
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What was the controversy about Deepika Padukone in 2025?
Deepika Padukone (born January 5, 1986, Copenhagen, Denmark) is one of the most successful Bollywood actresses of the early 21st century. A model and an ambassador for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Cartier, Padukone has acted in several top-grossing Bollywood movies.
In 2023 and 2024 Padukone was one of the highest-paid actresses in India. While primarily known as a Bollywood actress and a model, Padukone has worn many hats over the years: ace badminton player, mental health advocate, brand ambassador, producer, investor, and entrepreneur, among others.
Family
Deepika Padukone was born to Ujjala Padukone, a travel agent, and Prakash Padukone, a renowned badminton player who put India on the sport’s international map. Deepika Padukone and her sister, Anisha Padukone, grew up in Bangalore [now Bengaluru] and had a flair for sports. Deepika Padukone was a national-level badminton player before she ventured into acting at the age of 16, and Anisha Padukone was one of the top 10 amateur golfers in the country in her teens. Deepika Padukone married actor Ranveer Singh in 2018 and they have two daughters.
Model, actress, and producer
Deepika Padukone was a successful model before becoming an actress. Although she took up a few modeling assignments while she was in school, her formal foray into the world of modeling started when she was in college. She made her runway debut in the 2005 Lakme India Fashion Week in Delhi, walking the ramp for designer Suneet Varma. Padukone started her movie career with Aishwarya (2006), a Kannada movie. She was picked for her first Bollywood movie, Om Shanti Om, after she got noticed as a model by director Farah Khan. The movie, in which superstar Shah Rukh Khan played the male lead, became the top-grossing Bollywood film of 2007. Padukone played the dual roles of a murdered Hindi film actress, Shantipriya, and her doppelganger, Sandy, in Om Shanti Om. Her Hindi debut was followed by successful films such as Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008; “Watch Out Beauties”), costarring Ranbir Kapoor, Love Aaj Kal (2009; “Love These Days”) opposite Saif Ali Khan, and Housefull, (2010) featuring an ensemble cast led by Akshay Kumar. However, Padukone hit a lean patch with a string of flops, including Lafangey Parindey (2010; “Cheeky Birds”), Break Ke Baad (2010; “After the Break”), Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (2010; “We Play With Passion”), and Desi Boyz (2011).
Padukone’s fortunes revived with Cocktail (2012), in which she played the free-spirited Veronica. The film was a hit and Padukone’s performance was singled out for critical praise. The next year was one of extraordinary success. She raised her profile with the action film Race 2 and then appeared in three hits in a row: she played the nerdy Naina who blossoms after a life changing road trip in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (“This Youth is Crazy”); the rebellious daughter of a gangster in Chennai Express; and one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (“A Dance of Bullets: Ram-Leela”). The first two films reunited Padukone with previous co-stars, Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan, while the third film was her first with future husband Ranveer Singh.
Padukone now had her pick of projects. The slightly offbeat Finding Fanny (2014) showed her in the role of a young widow who sets off on a road trip to help a friend. She played a dancer in Happy New Year (2014), her third film with Khan. In Piku (2015) she starred opposite popular Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, playing a daughter who tries to figure out life with an aging health-obsessed father (played by Bachchan). She costarred with Kapoor for the third time in Tamasha (2015; “Drama”) and with Singh for the second in Bajirao Mastani (2015). Padukone made her Hollywood debut in 2017 with xXx: Return of Xander Cage, starring Vin Diesel.
In the historical Bollywood drama Padmaavat (2018), Padukone appeared as Padmavati, a Rajput queen. Ranveer Singh played ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī (Alauddin Khalji), a ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, and Shahid Kapoor appeared as Padmavati’s husband, Ratan Singh. Although some characters portrayed in Padmaavat are based on historical figures, the movie’s story is said to be based on an epic composed by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi and is considered to be a work of fiction. Padmaavat aroused controversy when a fringe group in the state of Rajasthan took offense, claiming that the movie depicted Queen Padmavati in a bad light. The movie was banned in some Indian states and was finally released after modifications.
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Padukone’s movies and actions have aroused controversy on other occasions as well. She endured a backlash in 2020 when she expressed solidarity with students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) by joining their protest against a mob attack on students on the campus. Some called Padukone’s presence during the protest vigil a stunt to promote her upcoming movie Chhapaak (an onomatopoeic Hindi word for “splash”). A call to boycott Padukone’s film was issued by various right-wing groups that were politically opposed to students at JNU, who had been protesting a recent fee hike at the university and had joined the larger countrywide protests against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act. (The protests against the legislation were based on concerns that it goes against India’s secular constitution.) On the whole, however, her gesture received support from many quarters.
Padukone turned producer for Chhapaak, a biographical movie about a real-life acid attack survivor, played in the movie by Padukone. (An acid attack is a form of violence in which a person, usually a woman, is splashed with acid or some other corrosive substance, usually with the intention of disfiguring, torturing, or killing the person.) Padukone produced the movie with Meghna Gulzar and Govind Singh Sandhu. In an interview given to Outlook magazine in 2020, she called her acting role in the movie her most emotionally and physically challenging so far.
In 83 (2021), a biopic on the famous cricketer Kapil Dev and the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup (India’s first World Cup win), Padukone played Romi Dev, the wife of Kapil Dev, who was played by Singh. Padukone also coproduced 83. The movie wasn’t very successful at the box office, but it earned critical acclaim for the honest portrayal of legendary cricketers. Padukone made her streaming debut in the romantic drama Gehraiyaan (2022; “Depths”), which centered on infidelity. She appeared in Bollywood blockbusters Pathaan and Jawan in 2023, both starring Khan. In 2024 she acted with Hrithik Roshan in Fighter, a movie about aviators, costarred with Prabhas, Bachchan, and Kamal Haasan in the science fiction blockbuster Kalki 2898 AD, and played a police officer in Singham Again.
In 2025 Padukone, who was returning to work after giving birth the previous year, exited two projects that she had been slated to star in—Spirit and the sequel to Kalki 2898 AD. She was reported to have had various differences with the makers of the projects, including over her shooting schedule. Her request that shifts be restricted to eight hours ignited online discussions about the challenges faced by new mothers.
Mental health champion
Padukone struggled with depression in 2014. Once she learned how to manage her illness, she publicly disclosed her diagnosis in the hope of countering the taboo that exists around seeking help for mental health issues. She not only gave candid interviews about this phase but also went on to start the LiveLoveLaugh Foundation, an organization that seeks to “create awareness about mental health, reduce stigma associated with mental illness, and provide credible mental health resources.”
Brand ambassador
Padukone has endorsed many brands, including such Indian names as Liril, Asian Paints, Jio, Tanishq, and Axis Bank and such globally recognized brands as Coca-Cola, Tissot, L’Oreal Paris, and Levi’s. In 2022–23 she became the brand ambassador for fashion house Louis Vuitton, French jeweler and watchmaker Cartier, and Qatar Airways.
Investor and entrepreneur
Padukone set up KA Enterprises, a venture capital firm, in partnership with Prakash Padukone, her father, in 2014. The firm invested in Indian start-ups such as space tech company Bellatrix Aerospace, e-mobility company BluSmart, travel accessories brand Mokobara, digital pet-care platform Supertails.com, and coffee brand Blue Tokai.
In 2022 Padukone founded 82°E, a skin-care line “that’s Indian in its ethos and global in its outlook,” with venture capitalist Jigar Shah. The brand’s name is based on 82 degrees east longitude, “the standard meridian that runs longitudinally through India and shapes our relationship with the rest of the world.”
Awards
In 2007, the year she debuted in Bollywood with Om Shanti Om, Padukone won two Filmfare Awards: for best female debut and Fresh New Face of the Year. She received her third Filmfare Award in 2013, for best actress in a leading role in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela. In 2015 she won that award again—this time for her performance in Piku.Forbes magazine ranked her among the 10 highest-paid actresses in the world in 2016. Time magazine has honored Padukone many times. She was featured on the 2018 Time100 list, Time’s annual roster of the 100 most influential people in the world. Then in 2022 she received the Time100 Impact Award, which recognizes “global leaders who have gone above and beyond to move their industries—and the world—forward.”
In 2020 Padukone received the World Economic Forum Crystal Award for her leadership in raising mental health awareness. Time magazine’s May 2023 feature, “Deepika Padukone Is Bringing the World to Bollywood,” highlighted Padukone’s unique achievement: making a global impact while still being rooted in India.