Deepika Padukone is one of those Bollywood stars who have managed to make her mark singlehandedly due to her unmatched talent. Deepika Padukone, who made her Bollywood debut with the 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om, has emerged as a seasoned actor.

Talking about her journey in Bollywood, Deepika Padukone shared that once she was afraid she will be written off because her South Indian accent was frowned upon.

“I do see the obvious disparity between men and women in almost any aspect of life, but never in my journey have I felt the need to compare. And I think it’s to do with the fact that my sister and I weren’t brought up like that,” Deepika Padukone told the publication.

“We weren’t constantly reminded of the fact that we were girls, and so we had to go into the world thinking differently and fighting for what we deserved. But I did have to tackle other challenges. Coming from a sports background meant I did not have a natural inroad into Bollywood. My South Indian accent was also frowned upon and I initially worried about being written off because of it,” she revealed.

Deepika Padukone on female-led films

Talking about female-centric films, Deepika Padukone shared she has now constant worry about how she will be kept in mind for a certain kind of role.

“I’m having the opposite problem today, where I have to insist on filmmakers not keeping me in mind for just a certain kind of role. They are doing their own filtration and sieving process before approaching me,” she said.

Adding on, Deepika Padukone added, “A lot of the time, I hear of a film going to someone else and wonder why it wasn’t me, and the filmmaker will just tell me that they thought I wouldn’t do it because it didn’t have a big enough part for someone like me. Of course, it could also just be an excuse for why they didn’t want me in the first place. But to answer your question: no, I don’t think I’ve had that issue in a while. People assume that I’m only going to do certain kinds of films and roles, so I only get offered those.”

“As an outsider to the industry, I inadvertently ended up becoming an observer, which I believe has enabled me to change the status quo. Earlier, I probably didn’t have the confidence or the clout to be able to effect change, but the desire for it was always there. Even as a child, I was always curious about why things were done a certain way. I would never take anything lying down or be satisfied with things being handed to me on a platter,” Deepika Padukone concluded.