Deepika Padukone opens up to PorterEdit on depression, diversity and what the West could learn from the East. India’s highest-paid actress, talks to NET-A-PORTER’s weekly digital magazine, PorterEdit about diversity in Hollywood and how she feels there is still a long way to go:
“I am going to meetings [in Hollywood] to let people know not just about me, but that there is a whole big world out there beyond America. And they need to see that,” she tells PorterEdit.
The 33-year old superstar is shifting the goalposts in Bollywood, becoming the first woman ever to make the top five at the Forbes India Celebrity 100 in 2018, as well as landing a US Vogue cover for the ‘Global Talent’ issue alongside Scarlett Johansson and Doona Bae. The actress, who boasts over 37million Instagram followers, certainly knows how to push the boundaries when it comes to fashion. Padukone reminisces with PorterEdit about wearing the neon Giambattista Valli gown and matching bandana to Cannes Film Festival earlier this year!
India’s highest-paid actress, Deepika Padukone, talks to NET-A-PORTER’s weekly digital magazine, PorterEdit about diversity in Hollywood and how she feels there is still a long way to go: “I am going to meetings [in Hollywood] to let people know not just about me, but that there is a whole big world out there beyond America. And they need to see that,” she tells PorterEdit.
The 33-year old superstar is shifting the goalposts in Bollywood, becoming the first woman ever to make the top five at the Forbes India Celebrity 100 in 2018, as well as landing a US Vogue cover for the ‘Global Talent’ issue alongside Scarlett Johansson and Doona Bae. The actress, who boasts over 37million Instagram followers, certainly knows how to push the boundaries when it comes to fashion. Padukone reminisces with PorterEdit about wearing the neon Giambattista Valli gown and matching bandana to Cannes Film Festival earlier this year: “I was like, we’re doing this. A hundred percent. There was no doubt in my mind.”
Next year Padukone will act and produce in the hotly anticipated movie Chhapaak, based on the true story of Indian acid-attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. While many people might have found wearing the prosthetics for the role difficult or uncomfortable, Padukone tells PorterEdit it didn’t faze her: “It made me realize how you look externally is such a small, irrelevant part of what you are. I think people would expect me to be horrified. Or emotional. Or scared. But I was at complete ease with the way I was, with the way I looked and felt,” she says.
You can draw parallels with how at ease Padukone is playing these outspoken and bold roles with how she unflinchingly tackled her own depression in 2015. The actress speaks about the obstacles she faced before choosing to take medication: “I wasted a couple of weeks carrying the medication around with me because I was afraid of everything I had heard, that it has side effects, that you get addicted. Finally, it gets to the point where you either take the medication or there is no point surviving”, she says.
For PorterEdit’s shoot, Padukone was photographed by Stefano Galuzzi and styled by Helen Broadfoot in the season’s denim and diamonds trend. Padukone wears Tiffany & Co., De Grisogono, Ana Khouri, Goldsign, SLVRLAKE and RE/DONE and more. All items can be purchased straight from the magazine’s pages via the NET-A-PORTER app, available on Android as well as iPhone and iPad, and through www.net-a-porter.com.
Interview highlights:
Padukone on only being offered parts defined entirely by her ethnicity in Hollywood: “Yes. Or the exotic. The exotic assistant to the detective. I am going to meetings to let people know not just about me, but that there is a whole big world out there beyond America. And they need to see that.”
Padukone on the idea of an actor wanting to graduate from Bollywood to Hollywood: “I feel that’s a bit dated. Today, the world is much more than that. If anything, I think today the West is looking east.”
Padukone on diversity in Hollywood and why there is still a long way to go: “While the conversation about diversity seems to happen [in Hollywood] now, I feel there is still a long way to go before they truly understand it.”
Padukone on her early career and not identifying as a Bollywood star: “I was trying to be someone I was not, trying to fit the model of being an Indian film actor, being a certain way, wearing certain clothes. When I decided to shed all that is when everything started falling into place.”
Padukone on her frustration with Bollywood and why other actors are not using their power to affect change: “I feel like a lot of actors are just content with what they do for themselves. I’m not that person. I feel like if I am in a certain place today, I would like to use that. It makes me angry sometimes to see extremely influential and talented people who don’t really try to do anything beyond what they want to do. That’s a personal choice, but it makes me sad.”
Padukone on wearing prosthetics in Chhapaak [due out next year], the movie based on the true story of Indian acid-attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal: “I felt like myself. It made me realize how you look externally is such a small, irrelevant part of what you are. I think people would expect me to be horrified. Or emotional. Or scared. But I was at complete ease with the way I was, with the way I looked and felt.”
Padukone on the obstacles she overcame before choosing to take medication to fight her depression: “I wasted a couple of weeks carrying the medication around with me because I was afraid of everything I had heard, that it has side effects, that you get addicted. Finally, it gets to the point where you either take the medication or there is no point surviving.”
Padukone on why she chose to wear that headline-making Giambattista Valli outfit to Cannes: “The neon green Giambattista Valli gown [I wore] with a bandana on my head. My stylist was doubtful. She was like, I love the gown, but I’m not sure you want the headband. Not for me. It was optional for my stylist. But I was like, we’re doing this. One hundred percent. There was no doubt in my mind.”
Padukone on how fashion has helped her push the boundaries: “It’s not so much about having an impact in the West, as it is about pushing the boundaries for myself. I am that girl who loves fashion and loves dressing up.”
Padukone on the necessary diplomacy between an actor wife and her husband [Padukone married actor, Ranveer Singh in 2018] when cast alongside him in ’83: “Because he was in the movie [already] as an actor, I felt like he needed to hear from the director that I was his co-star.”
Padukone on being drawn to the role of Kapil Dev in ’83 [Padukone’s father is professional badminton player, Prakash Padukone]: “The sacrifices that a wife or family needs to make to enable [an] athlete to achieve his goals. I’ve seen it so closely with my parents, I understand how important that support system is in the life of someone extremely ambitious.”
