“Today, a leading lady has to go beyond the glamour quotient” – Deepika Padukone

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

February 24, 2010 - 11:27 AM IST

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She has played a Diva and a bubby girl in Om Shanti Om, a confident single working woman in Bachna Ae Haseeno, an independent girl who takes some time to listen to her heart in Love Aaj Kal and a model/fighter in Chandni Chowk To China. Now in her Friday release Karthik Calling Karthik, she gets into a different zone altogether as she plays a bindaas city girl in Karthik Calling Karthik who likes to go party hopping, comes with urban sensibilities and doesn't mind getting her on-screen boyfriend (Farhan Akhtar) drunk.

While one waits to see the depth and impact of the character of Shonali Mukherjee that she plays in the film, what is quite apparent is the entirely non-filmy style that she has adopted for the film. Was that a conscious effort on her part?

“Today, a leading lady has to go beyond the glamour quotient” – Deepika Padukone

"Yes, performances in Karthik Calling Karthik were meant to be very real and relatable. That was the requirement of the film and the characters. This is why you see that even Farhan's performance is very real in the film. I too had to adapt to a different acting style which was quite a task actually because I was also working on Housefull around the same time. Now the genre of Housefull is such where there had to be a lot more enthusiasm in my performance. On the other hand, Karthik Calling Karthik is a little understated", describes Deepika who is one of the busiest actors around today with close to half a dozen films at different stages of production.

Other than Karthik Calling Karthik and Housefull, she would be seeing the release of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se (Abhishek Bachchan), Break Ke Baad (Imran Khan) and YRF's untitled film (Neil Nitin Mukesh) over next 12 months. Meanwhile, there are also a couple of other projects that may be green lighted by her soon.

With films belonging to different genres in the anvil, Deepika has Karthik Calling Karthik as her first ever thriller. One can be rest assured that this must have been a new experience altogether for her to move out of quintessential Bollywood heroine mode and indulge into something which belongs to a different sensibility, right?

"Well, not really", Deepika disagrees here, "Even if you take my last release Love Aaj Kal, it wasn't really the sort of film where there was a quintessential heroine and hero. It was treated entirely different. Besides that, the fact is that the kind of films which are being made are not what there used to be say, made 10 years ago."

Giving a short take on the change that has happened in the presentation of leading ladies today, Deepika says, "I can speak for myself for sure that I won't be seen as a part of a film just for a song and dance routine. I guess most would agree that today when a girl is brought into a film, she is there for adding much more to the plot and narrative than just the glamour quotient."

Well, with the film ready to arrive in just a few hours from now, it would be interesting to see the 'difference' that Deepika has indeed brought around in Karthik Calling Karthik which is carrying good vibes. With music by Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy and lyrics by Javed Akhtar, the film releases all over this Friday i.e. 26th February.