Birthday Special: What are some of Deepika Padukone's most memorable scenes?

Deepika Padukone File.Pic/Yogen Shah

Deepika Padukone had a grand debut with Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om, which came out in 2007. Since it's about revising some of her most memorable scenes till date, her grand entry in the film's premier within the film is the best way to start the list:

1. Om Shanti Om (2007)

As aforementioned, Padukone plays a star called Shanti Priya our protagonist Om Prakash Makhija is smitten by, played with gusto by Shah Rukh Khan. When they first meet, she's walking on the red carpet and he's in the crowd to witness her aura and hysteria. Vishal-Shekhar's charming Aankhon Mein Teri plays in the background as Khan's hand accidentally gets stuck in her Dupatta. It's fitting that the film was based in the 70s, and the two could have an intimate moment, or else Om would be thrown away by a bunch of bodyguards.

2. Love Aaj Kal (2009)

Unlike Jab We Met, love was way too complicated in Love Aaj Kal, Imtiaz Ali's third film. The film starts with Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera's (Deepika Padukone) break-up and how destiny keeps uniting them with bizarre coincidences. One such instance is her wedding where she wishes to talk to him one last time, but it's Jai who ends up doing all the talking, with heartbreak visible on his face, and Meera standing with stillness. The scene ends and we wonder what exactly Meera's thoughts would have been.

3. Cocktail (2012)

Considered as Padukone's breakthrough role, she played Veronica, who could be described as someone with a dual personality. She's a hippie (almost), isn't ashamed of hooking up with strangers at public places and taking them home, not to meet her parents surely. As the story forwards, we sense the emotional side of this woman, who yearns for true love. A monologue she delivers inebriated to Saif Ali Khan's Gautam is the time she stands emotionally bare. It's arguably the best moment in the film.

4. Chennai Express (2013)

We don't often encounter actresses pulling off physical comedy these days. They are merely eye-candies and heroes' objects of desire and fantasy. In Chennai Express, Padukone played an ingenious character who runs away from home after being forced to marry a man she doesn't love. She meets Rahul and as the story progresses, they share a room and he insists to share the bed too. Unknown to him and the viewers, she has a problem that's discovered only a few seconds later. She acts as if she's possessed and confesses to having the habit of kicking people in sleep. And Padukone nails the timing!

5. Piku (2015)

She was the most likable in her most unlikable character till date. She played the eponymous character who has a constipated and cantankerous father at home. Given her volatile nature, one would want to know more about her physical relationships that her father talks about openly at a party, embarrassing her in the process. A little before the end, she confesses that she's had physical relationships, and this is the first time we see her exploding on her father's nagging and shenanigans. It's a great moment greatly performed.