Deepika Padukone who serenaded Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om and later Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno (both onscreen and offscreen) is someone I knew more than six years ago. She was at the time inching her way to stardom on and off the ramp. She was also figuring in TV commercials at the time, particularly the toothpaste ad where she had to see the unseen (the advt featured graphics).
But what struck me most was her amazing way of breaking the ice and fearing nothing.
When I was in the thick of interviewing her (I was making her out to be one of the most promising face of Bangalore), a PR person sidled up to me to ask if I had the time to speak to him for a bit. Now, you know about PR persons. They are doing their job. Which is to just hand out a press release, however boring it might be. Not a task that needs my personal handling anyway. So I said, I was busy, but he could drop off the press release at the reception.
All this while, I didn’t realise that Deepika was observing me with a cat’s eye. Noting my every word, intonation and irritability. So the moment the PR person went his way, and I turned to Deepika, she said, ‘Ah! Aa. I CAN’T meet you!’ with a smile.
She was repeating what I had said to the PR person.
I laughed. And that’s how she broke the ice. After that, the interview went along like a house on fire. While at it, I chanced upon her decrepit cellphone – she had used a cellotape to prevent some part of it from coming off. She said, she had broken the antenna or something.
“Why can’t you get a better phone?” I asked her, now that we had become more cosy.
“I had one very costly one, but I lost it a few days ago when I went to a party.”
“Then, why don’t you buy a cheaper one, so it doesn’t stress you that much even if you were to lose it?” I ventured.
“Yup. That’s what I intend to do.”
And that’s that. The interview was over and we kept in touch largely through SMS. She was making her plans to go Bollywood. It took her two years to finally make the big jump from Bangalore to Mumbai.
I wish her luck, both in her personal and professional life, considering the number of people she has been linked to so far. Deepika, you seem to be breaking the ice with just too many people in too little time! Take a pause, baby. You might get exhausted sooner rather than later.