Deepika Padukone Talks About The Shift In Indian Cinema; Says 'There Is More Cross-Cultural Acceptance'

Before leaving for Cannes 2022, Deepika Padukone in an interview with a leading tabloid, shared her opinion on Indian cinema undergoing significant changes in recent times with the rise of regional cinema, cross-collaboration between Bollywood and other industries and pan India films.

The actress told ETimes that the Indian cinema is going exactly in the directon where it should be going, and the direction it should have gone in a while ago. She went on to say that the lines between different industries like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam is slowing blurring, and there's more cross-cultural acceptance now.

Deepika was quoted as saying, "Globally, Indian talent and movies are, of course, recognised, but within India also we are seeing a shift. We are moving towards a place now where you see India truly coming together. I think, earlier, we worked in isolation - there was a Hindi film industry, a Telugu film industry, a Tamil industry and a Malayalam industry... And now those guardrails are coming down. I think, there just seems to be a lot more cross-cultural acceptance, as there should be."

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In the interview, the Chhapaak star further revealed that during her early days in the film industry, she felt out of place since she didn't watch many movies.

Deepika said, "I'm someone who started watching movies quite late in life. I was an athlete before I became an actor. A lot of my friends from the industry have grown up watching a lot of movies, and I remember when I first came to the industry, I used to talk to them, and I would feel completely out of place as they would always talk about films that they have seen and references and dialogues that were completely alien to me, because I came from a completely different background."

She said that while growing up, she had no time to watch films as she had a very structured and discipled life being a badminton player.

Deepika candidly admitted, "There was no time for movies. In a year, I would hardly watch one or two movies. So it's only now in the last couple of years, since I became an actor that I started (watching films). Of course, I have a lot of catching up to do."

Workwise, Deepika Padukone will next be seen in Shah Rukh Khan-John Abraham starrer Pathaan. She also has Hrithik Roshan's Fighter, Amitabh Bachchan's The Intern and the Nag Ashwin directorial Project K.