Success follows Deepika Padukone around like a faithful dog. It remains at her side and hasn't left in a number of years. In 2015, Padukone took over Bollywood, for the most part. Except for the pesky Salman Khan, who had two box office smashes and pulled a stunning magic trick by extracting himself out from under a five-year prison sentence for his infamous 2002 hit and run accident. As for actresses, it's hard to come up with one comparable to Deepika for the past couple of years. With the call to Hollywood nearing and a part in Vin Diesel's XXX sequel, the Queen of Bollywood will look to expand her kingdom. Can she become the most bankable actress in the world?
She is probably the top actress in Bollywood and one of the most bankable names in the largest film producing nation in the world. Numerous awards and acclaim have built Deepika into the major powerhouse in the Indian film world. Those awards, however, were not handed to her blindly. Bollywood exhibitor and distributor, Akshaye Rathi noted about Deepika's evolution as an actress, via Bollywood Life, "I must admit that when she started off in Om Shanti OmChandni Chowk to China and Lafangey Parindey, going by the performances in a couple of films earlier down in her career, I never thought in my wildest imagination that she would become the actress and the star that she is. If you see her performances, then and now, you see a marked and clear difference in the efforts she has taken to raise the standards of her performance. She has now brought it to a level where she is nothing but the best."
Deepika is a rare breed. Success to her, seemingly, is just a part of what she loves doing most: acting. She doesn't seek the limelight because she doesn't have to. It follows her around, begging for Deepika's attention. If Deepika were to give in to it, then maybe it might have some sense of validation, finally. However, in all this, what makes Deepika so unique. and that which will carry her into the stratosphere where name bankability is concerned, is Deepika herself. For, in spite of her success, she still is very modest.
A past article in DNAIndia illustrates this perfectly, "The actress, who has been shooting for Bajirao Mastani, has just been informed that she won't be needed back on the sets for 10 days. Excited with this unexpected break, she is making plans to go grocery shopping with some friends after this interview, "I have heard so much about Foodhall in Palladium, I am going to check it out." I warn her to take security and she laughs, "Come on, I can't go grocery shopping with guards!"
