Pathaan: Deepika Padukone talks about her relationship with Shah Rukh Khan, her extensive diet regime and more

The countdown for one of the much-awaited films of 2023, Pathaan has begun. The excitement level of the fans is at its peak as they will get to see Shah Rukh Khan after almost 4 years on the silver screen. Pathaan is all set to release on January 25 and advance booking has already begun. Well, 2 days before the release of the film, YRF has released a special video featuring Deepika Padukone where she opened up about shooting with SRK, her chemistry with the actor, her extensive diet regime and exercise routine for the film, and much more.

Deepika Padukone speaks about Pathaan, Shah Rukh Khan, and more

How was it working with SRK again? What can we expect from you two coming together this time?

Well, it’s always been incredible. I think what I feel for him, I don’t think I will ever be able to express in words. For me my relationship with him is, it’s a feeling, it’s an emotion, it’s just lots of love, and it’s unconditional. And I think we have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to work on some incredible movies starting with Om Shanti Om. I started my career with him. We have had opportunities to do different kinds of movies together and to actually see both of us in this space was very exciting for me and I’m sure it was for him as well. For me as an audience, I was very excited to see him do this spy action thriller. But I think what makes it even more special is that I am in the movie with him, so to see him in this sort of character that you haven’t seen him very often. I think it’s the trust, it’s the love, it’s the relationship that we have that actually makes this sort of film and the movie and the chemistry really special.

Was there any special diet/prep that you did for your fit body in Pathaan?

Yes, and it’s probably the hardest that I have ever worked to get in any kind of shape for a film or for a character. I don’t want to get into the specifics because I know there are moments when people get carried away when actors name diets. So I am not going to get into the specifics of what the routine was but I can tell you that it was one of the most difficult workout regimes, one of the most difficult diets that I was on to achieve what I needed to achieve from a physicality perspective. But I think what it also took was an incredible amount of discipline. You know to be able to maintain that for over maybe a year, year and a half or two years, I cannot even remember. But to be able to maintain that physicality for that long was probably the hardest part. Having said that, when you see the results on the screen, you see people reacting to it, when people recognize the hard work and the efforts, it feels worthwhile.

Which is your favourite song from Pathaan and why?

Both of the songs are my favourites and I think it’s very difficult to choose. They are both very different, of course for Besharam Rang I had to work a lot harder and that was sort of in a way my solo song and the location we were shooting at was really difficult because even though the song looks really a summery and bright and beautiful, it was actually freezing and extremely windy. So we were working in very very difficult conditions and still to make it look like it was beautiful and sunny was the tough part. But, having said that I had fun in both of the songs. The second one is with Shah Rukh. I think when he and I dance together we have a really good time. Both of us are the kind of dancers who don’t really worry about the technicality of a step. We just understand what the step is and have fun with it. So ya! Both of the songs are my favourites but the beautiful part is that both of the songs are massive hits.

The YRF Spy Universe

Pathaan is touted to be one of India’s biggest action spectacles to date and is a part of Aditya Chopra’s ambitious spy universe, which kicked off with Ek Tha Tiger in 2012 followed by Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and War (2019). Being the fourth film of the universe, it also marks the inception point for the crossover of characters from one film to the other, which eventually leads to a big-ticket multi-starrer finale. Salman Khan has an extended cameo in Pathaan, in his avatar of iconic spy, Tiger aka. Avinash Singh Rathore. The spy universe then continues with the release of Tiger 3 starring Salman with Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi during the Diwali 2023 weekend. The film will see an extended appearance from Shah Rukh Khan as Pathaan.

The advance bookings for Pathaan will open on January 20, 2023, leading to the film’s release on January 25. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.

What makes you and SRK look so good in the film?

Well, I think he and I both can take little credit for that which is again he was also on this intense diet and exercise and all of that. So I think he and I can both take credit for the work that we have put in individually. But at the end of the day, it is the teams that you work with. Whether it is the director, his vision, whether it is the cinematographer, how he is envisioning, the lighting, the stylist in terms of how she envisioned these characters, or whether it’s your hair and makeup team. I think it’s the entire team that comes in together. So sure you can put in the work and you can do the best that you can but you also have incredible world-class professionals who come in and make us look the way we do. So it is a collaborative effort.