Agencies
Mumbai, Feb. 10: Deepika Padukone likes to weigh her words before she speaks. She considers the questions, pauses for a moment as if looking for the right phrase, and articulates her thoughts precisely. This attention to detail, emphasis on a considered opinion is not just limited to her interviews, it is evident in all aspects of her life and career.

Those who have been following the promotional cycle of her upcoming movie, Gehraiyaan, are aware how the actor took a few days before she gave her nod to the film. A worried Shakun Batra, Gehraiyaan’s director, who had flown to London to narrate the script to her, approached producer Karan Johar in the meanwhile, worried if the actor had turned the film down.

He need not have been concerned. Deepika is not one to ‘take spur of the moment decisions.’ “I know instantly after I get a narration if I want to do a film or not, but I don’t react on the spur of the moment. In my gut I know whether I am doing the film or not, but I still want to make sure I continue to feel like that for a day or two and then respond,” the actor says.

The process has left her in good stead. Having completed 15 years in the industry, the actor, who candidly confesses that she had no idea about Bollywood or acting when she landed on the sets of Om Shanti Om, is now one of the country’s top acting talents.

“I have learnt everything by being on the film sets. I had no family, friends in the film industry. From being presented in the most beautiful way possible, to making wrong choices, making many mistakes, I have learnt from it all. I learnt how to pick up interesting characters and projects, I have grown a lot,” she accepts.

Talking of failures, are they harder to deal with when she is also in the producer’s chair? Deepika formed her production company, Ka Productions, in 2018. She has co-produced Chhapaak and 83, both critically acclaimed films whose box office business was considered underwhelming. She would rather not discuss the ‘economics of it’, focussing instead on emotional connect.

“Emotionally when you are invested in a film, and the project and character mean a lot to you, it is most disappointing when for some reason, you are unable to communicate it to the audience. It can be shortfall in screenplay, performance, or direction; you can’t even pinpoint one reason, but it just doesn’t translate. If somewhere you feel you are not sure of the film and the audience doesn’t appreciate it, then you don’t feel that bad. You know that somewhere you made a wrong choice,” the actor says.

If you look at Deepika’s filmography, the wrong choices have been rare. The actor already has Yash Raj Films’ Pathan with Shah Rukh Khan, Fighter opposite Hrithik Roshan, tentatively titled Project K where she stars with Prabhas, The Intern remake, and an untitled project in which the actor is likely to play Draupadi. However, the focus is now on Gehraiyaan, headlined by Deepika alongside Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa.