Deepika Padukone: It’s unfortunate that there are less Indian films showcased at Cannes

It’s pretty incredible. It’s been a lot of fun. First of all, just being here, just taking it all in, the sun the weather, the people, you truly have to be here to experience it to really understand what I’m feeling. There’s just so much joy and positivity and it’s like sunshine.

Sonam Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have now become Cannes regulars, and this is your first time. How are you handling all the comparisons?

Comparisons are obvious, because that’s in your mind, and that’s not in my mind! And for me, it’s just an incredible platform for different women who come here and showcase their talent, and represent a brand, sometimes with a movie. We’re all here because we’re all such strong individual women with our own sense, there’s no overlap in that sense. Sometimes I think we unnecessarily get into this phase of comparison, but I think there shouldn’t be.

Your pictures from Cannes reveal that you had a good time all by yourself at Cannes! Do you think you get a fairer chance to be yourself when you are away from your country?

You have to be exactly who you want to be, it doesn’t matter which part of the world you are in. A lot of it is self-created, about what people can do and cannot do, and yes, sometimes, there’s a little bit of nuisance value maybe, for instance, if I walked into a restaurant. This is something that Shah Rukh (Khan) explained to me, like if you walk into a restaurant, it’s not like you can’t go to that restaurant, but you’re probably inconveniencing people around you, but it’s not like you can’t do it. So if I choose to go to the market and buy vegetables, it’s not like I can’t do that, it’s my choice, it’s eventually about what you want to do and don’t want to do, and you have to prepared for it, and I’ve always gone about my life doing what I want to do and whatever makes me happy.

How does it feel rubbing shoulders with Hollywood biggies like Julianne Moore, Susan Sarandon and Elle Fanning?

I always wanted to meet Julianne Moore. When I saw “Still Alice”, it blew my mind. Even today, some of those scenes and that performance haunts me, and maybe because it dealt with a mental illness, and that’s something very close to my heart and something that I relate to, that’s probably why, but I think it was just so pure and so well done. But more than that, she’s just such a pure soul, she’s so warm and lovely, and two days have almost come to an end, and it’s just been so amazing.

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I got a very warm welcome from Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon, both of them, such amazing women, such strong, powerful, intelligent women, but also so kind, so gentle. We met first thing at 7 in the morning the other day, we were all there, getting our hair and make-up done, and I think what I enjoyed the most is that, there’s the film star, but then there’s the woman in all of us, and in that room it was just us three women, giggling and chatting and just having a real moment and I think that’s something I’ll always cherish.

Deepika Padukone at one of her red carpet appearances at the Cannes 2017.

The way you are slaying the red carpet one after another, can we safely call you a Red Carpet pro?

Like I said before, I wouldn’t call myself “pro”. Fashion has to be fun, and the experience has to be fun. You work as a team, you have a stylist, you have someone who’s designing your hair, you have someone whose creating your makeup looks, and we were all talking earlier today that you can plan and plan for months, but you can wake up on that morning, feeling like “You know what, I don’t feel like wearing this, I feel like wearing something else”, so it’s really about your energy, your mood, what you’re feeling on that day and following your instinct and having fun.

There are very less Indian movies being showcased at the Cannes Film Festival. If you could take one of your film with you to Cannes, which one would you take?

It’s unfortunate that there are less Indian films showcased here, yes. We’ve had some amazing years, but it would have been nice, not just a Hindi movie, but for any movie to come here. But I’m sure it’ll happen, we can’t be so hard on ourselves, but it’ll happen when it has to happen.

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I think a film that I wish I could have brought to Cannes would have been Piku. If there is a film that I would like to bring, I’m not sure, but I can say that Piku is a film that I’m very proud of and I would love to show it here.

Did you get a chance to talk about our industry and films there?

They already know everything about our industry, what work I’ve done, what I’m doing, and what I’m going to do. When journalists come here, it is because they’re all passionate about cinema, and they have a lot of knowledge, so they know when you’re walking down the red carpet, or when you’re interacting with people, they know the work that you’ve done, or the industry that you come from, or the country that you come from. There’s nothing for me to tell them or explain, and in several occasions, the audience here has been exposed to different kinds of Indian films, right from Devdas to Gangs Of Wasseypur, it’s not that Indian films haven’t come here, so they’re fully aware of the films that we make.

How do you think Indian cinema is influencing world cinema?

I think their perception is that in their mind it’s grand, and it’s colours and it’s culture. Susan Sarandon was talking yesterday about her son, who’s making a movie, and she was talking about how he picked up on the dance element, on how Indian films have so much dance, and incorporated dance into one of the movies that he was making, so the perception is that. I know we do a lot more than that, I know that our movies are not just song and dance, so yes, I think we have a lot to do in terms of educating the international crowd, though some people are very well aware of the kind of films that we make, but yes, largely the perception is that we make grand scale, colour, song and dance, and a lot of culture.