Different strokes

Hailing from sports background, Deepika Padukone – daughter of the former badminton champion, Prakash Padukone – entered the glam world made with a Kannada film, Aishwarya.

Before beginning her journey in Bollywood, she made her mark in the advertisement world as a Lakme model and later as the Kingfisher calendar girl, thanks to family friend Atul Kasbekar, who saw the X-factor in her. Soon after, she made a grand Bollywood debut with with Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om.

Over the years, she has demarcated her personal and professional life with her close circle of friends being those from her school and college days in Bangalore. She is very close to her parents, who often come to visit her from Bangalore and her sister, Anisha. She dated Ranbir Kapoor and also worked with him in Bachna Ae Haseeno. While they parted ways, they still remain friends and will be seen together in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

Having worked with bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan to contemporaries like Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Imran Khan and Farhan Akhtar, she shares a cordial relationship with her co-stars. She is also friends with Love Aaj Kal director Imtiaz Ali.