Deepika's secret is out!

As her career gains momentum and her confidence soars through the stratosphere, the real Deepika Padukone has come out to play...

The year 2010 threw us a few curve balls all right. There was vajazzling (Swarovskis for your lady parts, for the uninitiated), Gaga’s confounding, nay, exceptionally counfounding meat dress, and The All New Deepika Padukone circa That Infamous Koffee With Karan Episode. I, for one, was surprised, and quite pleasantly too. In the few conversations I’ve had with the swannish actress since she glided into the spotlight four years ago, Deepika has been nothing if not perfectly poised, measured with her words and shown the kind of good-natured reserve 20-somethings are not exactly famous for. Then came the nationally broadcasted giggle fest with her alleged one-time nemesis, Sonam Kapoor, where she threw caution to the wind and was uncharacteristically candid about her famous ex, Ranbir Kapoor, saying decidedly un-Deepika things like ‘He should endorse a condom brand’.

That alone kept tabloids busy for weeks after the show aired. When I hear her voice over the phone then, I decide to skip the small talk and get right to it. It’s as if she’s unravelling, I tell her, letting her shoulders slump, so to speak, and in the process, having a bit of fun. She laughs, “It’s not intentional. People say I’ve changed drastically, but it was always a part of who I was. It’s just that I’m a shy and introverted person and it takes a level of comfort for me to let go and let that other side of me show.” So what did the trick? Has it been the steadily rising success she’s met with since her debut in 2007? Deepika’s accumulated quite a cache of film roles and endorsements in a very short while and so quickly becoming a hotly sought star can be a confidence-building exercise for anyone. “Success does bring confidence,” she admits. “I didn’t come from a film background, so I was a newcomer in every way. When you’re the outsider, you do tend to hold yourself back a little until you feel accepted and loved enough to let go. There’s a point of acceptance that you have to cross before you relax into comfort.”

Today, the actress has etched a tidy spot for herself within the fraternity, is beating on her craft with every radically different role she essays, and is coming to grips with her star power. “But I am still very much that other person, too,” she avers. “I always think before I speak, I’m not the sort who will just fly off the handle and say the first thing that comes to mind.”