Bollywood princess Deepika Padukone talks about her latest film Chandni Chowk to China, tackling dual roles, and working with a Hong Kong action legend.
It's strange to think that Deepika Padukone is 23 years-old and that she's only been working in the Bollywood film industry for three years. In her debut role in 2007's Om Shanti Om opposite Shah Rukh Khan, she mesmerized millions with her dual roles as the long-suffering Shantipriya and the clumsy but earnest Sandy. Much has been said about Padukone's astounding beauty (the "Ajab Si" scene, where Shah Rukh Khan almost faints on the red carpet after she smiles at him, is reason enough to buy a Blu-ray player and surround-sound system), but her talents needn't be reduced to her ability to glow through glistening tears. Holding one's own opposite Shah Rukh Khan is no easy task, and Padukone took the audience on a whirlwind emotional rollercoaster -- equally believable playing the superstar diva, the grateful friend, the scorned spouse, the dorky neophyte, and the ghost of murder and guilt. It didn't hurt that she elicited much compassion whenever she needed to be rescued from fire. Lots and lots of fire.
In her latest film Chandni Chowk to China, Padukone is again called to play two characters: this time, twins that have been separated at birth. As Sakhi, the perky spokesperson for high-tech Chinese gadgets, Padukone makes us laugh with her madcap antics, but her standout role is that of the orphaned child Suzy (who's been tranformed into the silent killer Meow Meow). With jet-black bangs, braids and a sudden mastery of kung fu, Padukone flies through the air, flings poisonous darts, defends 36th Chambers of Shaolin's Gordon Liu, and dares to challenge Bollywood's "king of action" Akshay Kumar.
APA sits down with Deepika Padukone to talk about her experience working on Chandni Chowk to China. --Ada Tseng
Interview with Deepika Padukone
January 7, 2009
Interviewed by Ada Tseng
Video edit by Warren Kenji Berkey
Camera by Oliver Chien
Asia Pacific Arts: Are you a fan of martial arts films?
Deepika Padkone: I've always wanted to do an action film because I was an athlete earlier in my life, so I'm really glad that [director] Nikhil Advani gave me this offer so early in my career. As an actor, there's always certain things that you want to do. For me, this is my third film in Indian cinema, and I'm really glad that something that I wanted to do I got to do so early.
APA: You play dual roles in the film, Sakhi and Suzy (also known as Meow Meow). Which twin did you enjoy playing more?
DP: Both of them were challenging for me, because I'm like neither of them. One [Suzy] is extremely bold and sexy and does all the action. The other character, Sakhi, is extremely tacky -- always wearing tacky clothes, wearing loads of make-up, tacky hairdo, always wearing pink. Both of them were not like me, so it was tough playing both of them.
APA: Did you have fun doing the fight sequences?
DP: I enjoyed it because I went through all the training and I was prepared for it. I trained for about six months. My trainers came down from China, who trained me in all the action that I was supposed to do in the film. I remember training for about 3-4 hours a day. I would hang from the cables, to get ready for when we started shooting. Also, Akshay Kumar is in the film. He's the king of action, and we have a fight sequence in the film, so I obviously had to be of some level to actually to be able to do that. Dee Dee [Ku] is an extremely talented stunt choreographer. And I liked the fact that he treated action like a dance, so I completely enjoyed myself.
APA: In the press junket, Akshay mentioned that he had hurt his back doing stunts.
DP: I didn't do that, if that's what he said [laughs]. I think he's extremely hard-working, and sometimes these thing happen.
APA: Did you ever hurt yourself doing anything?
DP: I injured my ankle while we were training, and also later on when we were shooting the film, I injured my ankle again in the same place. But I guess it's all part of of doing an action film.
APA: Can you talk a little about the costumes you wear in the film?
DP: It was disgusting the type of clothes I had to wear [for the Sakhi character]. Pink leather skirts, pink furry jackets. I would never dress like that personally, but I think that is what the director's vision was. He wanted the tackiness to come out of that character, so as to make the other character [Meow Meow] look better. [The clothes for] the other character [Meow Meow] were nicer because I had to wear these long leather robes and jackets and high heel boots and tight leggings. The look was a lot sexier.
APA: What about in the musical numbers when you had to wear the Chinese dresses?
DP: The cheongsam? That was fun because I don't think that in Indian cinema, anyone's ever worn that. And one generally associates [the cheongsam] with China, so it was really nice to wear that. In a lot of the scenes of the film, I wore that dress. Also in a lot of the songs.
APA: I was thinking it must be hard to dance in them because they're so tight.
DP: [smiles] Well we cheated a little bit. We made them a little bigger so I could move in them.
APA: What was it like shooting all over India and China and Thailand?
DP: I think the most memorable experience for me is when we shot at the Great Wall of China. One generally expects to go there to take pictures, but I think we're the first film unit that got permission to shoot there. We shot there for a couple of days, and the rest of the film we shot in Shanghai, Beijing, and Bangkok. It was a tiring two and a half months because it was a really difficult film. More than for me, but for the entire unit because of the weather conditions that we were shooting in. But yeah, the Great Wall of China schedule would be the most memorable for me.
APA: Can you tell me what it was like working with Gordon Liu?
DP: Oh my God. It's an absolute pleasure and honor to have him as part of our film. I mean -- I really don't know what to say. I think it's nice to work with someone as experienced as him, and someone who's so senior. He's a part of our action film, and I think that's also one of the things that drove me to learn my action so well, because I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of him because he's so good at it. When he finished dubbing -- so after he'd obviously seen the film -- he came up to me and he said that he's never seen a girl do action like this. And for me, something like this coming from a person like him is truly inspiring.