I Owe My Career to Farah Khan: Deepika Padukone

In just six months Deepika Padukone has signed two double roles in Om Shanti Om and Chandni Chowk To China Town and now she gets to do what very few female actors in our country do.Deepika does full-fledged comedy in Sajid Khan’s Houseful.

“It’s not just s few comic scenes here and there. It’s a hardcore comic role. And I wonder how I’ll manage it. Main koshish karungi. Sajid has a great sense of humour and I’d go by his vision. Sajid just told me to follow him. If my director has so much confidence in me I can’t let him down.”

Problem is, Deepak has a very sober image. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of fun. I plan to have a ball doing Houseful. I’m a reserved person in real life. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be funny for the camera.”

So after working with Sister Farah it’s bro Sajid. “I’m very fond of both of them. At a time when the entertainment industry wasn’t too confident of me Farah trusted me completely. She didn’t audition even me. Farah who was the one spotted me a talent and actually cast me opposite Shah Rukh.”

She has worked with all the older actors Shah Rukh, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan before coming to co-stars her own age group.

“Ranbir and I work like pals. But I wouldn’t say I had more fun working with him. You are not on the sets to have fun. But yes, definitely the comfort level with him was much higher even when we weren’t seeing each other. My other co-stars were a lot more mature and I was a lot more reserved with them.But I’ve to tell you, Shah Rukh completely pampered me. Saif is reserved.I’ve heard he wasn’t like this earlier.I believe he has calmed down a lot because of Kareena, or whatever. Saif and I just did our work on Imtiaz Ali’s sets and went our separate ways. That’s the way I like it. I’m a very reserved person. I’m not here to make friends. But yes Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba are now friends.”

And another film with Ranbir after Bachna Ae Haseenon? “We get offers every day to act together. But we’re waiting for the right opportunity. The script has to be special.But we’re very clear about not mixing business with our relationship.”

Deepika regrets making their relationship so public. “When we got into a relationship we decided to be open about it. Otherwise there would be reports about us being spotted holding hands, kissing, hugging, etc. Since we were so clear about our relationship we had nothing to hide. I thought people would respect that. But it didn’t work out that way.”

Deepika was especially upset about the paparazzi pictures of her and Ranbir. “We both have families and very repectable families. People who take pictures of us secretly must have families and boyfriends/girlfriends. We’ve now decided not to talk about our friendship.At the end of the day no one is going to see our films because we’re a pair. ”

Tell her there was no upward movement in Ranbir’s graph as an actor from Saawariya to Bachna…. and the protective beloved protests, “His graph was already so high in Saawariya , where could he go? Bachna Ae Haseenon gave him a chance to do something totally different. I too want to get away from the glam sham. Of course I want to wear good clothes and sing good songs. But I’d be uncomfortable doing just songs and dances. Beyond Sajid Khan’s film I haven’t signed any film. Chandni Chowk to Chandni is an out-and-out entertainer. Imtiaz Ali’s films are very real very relevant to today.”