Deepika Padukone on the role that mirrors her the most: 'It would be Piku and little bit of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'

Deepika Padukone on the role that mirrors her the most: 'It would be Piku and little bit of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'

At the CNBC TV18 Global Leadership Summit recently, Deepika Padukone spoke about something that doesn’t always get enough focus when we talk about stardom: the idea of being relatable.

For more than a decade, through her foundation’s work in mental health and her own public journey with depression, she has tried to bridge the gap between the world she belongs to and the world most people live in.

But the question remains: how does someone who exists in a space of red carpets, billion-rupee box office runs, and global campaigns stay believable, familiar, human?
Deepika didn’t attempt a crafted, rehearsed answer. Instead, she said something almost disarmingly simple: “I mean, I don’t know how to make myself not relatable. By just being.” She explained that the job itself demands a certain emotional honesty.

“When the camera is rolling, I’m not performing. There is a moment between action and cut where you find the truth. And when you find that truth and you hit that note, it’s the most beautiful feeling.”

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Authenticity, for her, isn’t a branding strategy. It’s internal wiring. “Any kind of inauthenticity really bothers me. I cannot sleep. It’s something that will keep playing on my mind. That deep need to be truthful and honest and authentic is where relatability comes in.”

That honesty also shapes how she approaches her roles. She believes no character exists in isolation from the actor inhabiting it. “With every character that you play, there is a little bit of you. There’s a little bit of me, at least, in every character that I’ve played.” She acknowledged that every role can be done by someone else — but what each actor brings is their lived truth. “Everyone can do everything. But what I can do, another person cannot, because I’m bringing myself into that.”

When asked which character has felt closest to her own self, she paused before responding. “There are a few. I think Piku. Not necessarily the journey of Piku, but the performance. A little bit of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. But if I had to really pick one, I think it would be Piku.”
In a space built on spectacle, Deepika is insisting on something quieter: to be real, even when the world expects performance.