Fighter to the Finish

Much like the acid attack survivor she plays in Chhapaak, Deepika Padukone exhibits a spirit made of grit.

- Suhani Singh

In the two years since Padmaavat released, Deepika Padukone got married, became an investor, started her own production house—Ka Productions— and became the chairperson of MAMI (Mumbai Film Festival). You could now see Padukone and her husband, Ranveer Singh, attend a screening of Martin Scorsese’s gangster drama The Irishman at Mumbai’s Regal Cinema. “I found [The Irishman] highly overrated, but I can’t deny it was an incredible experience to watch actors like them [Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci] on the big screen at such an iconic cinema,” she says. “Not everyone had something to do with films, but all of us who were present are passionate about them.”

It’s this passion that has helped her deal with death threats and the vitriol of fringe groups like the Rajput Karni Sena.