DEEPIKA PADUKONE WAS 21 when she made her debut in Om Shanti Om, directed by a female director, Farah Khan. It is not lost on her that it took another 13 years for her to collaborate with another—Meghna Gulzar, for Chhapaak, also the first film she produced. The gender disparity, she says, was not something she had noticed in the initial years. But, gradually, she realised how entrenched it was in the 100-year-old industry. From the difference in pay to how the hero’s vanity van is parked closer to the location or how his shot is prioritised for packup time, it’s so routine that it seems normal. Deepika isn’t whining, just laying out the facts. “We need to be conscious that this isn’t a men against women conversation, but about doing this together,” she says.

From 2013 onwards, Deepika has been at the forefront of getting things to change. “Through my journey and work, and the impact I’m able to have today, I want to see how I can start changing the narrative,” she says. The highest-paid actress in Indian cinema today, she commands a hefty fee for endorsements, and has featured in the first Hindi films (Pathaan, Jawan) to gross Rs 500 plus crore in India alone. She no longer has to negotiate for better parts or deals; they now come her way. “The minute they see you are successful, they start taking you seriously,” she says. Yet, she admits there was resistance as she set about challenging the status quo. “People are trying to protect you. They are scared of change and want to avoid conflict. It’s the ‘Why fix something that ain’t broke?’ attitude. But does anyone stop and think how we can make it better?”

The industry can certainly do better. For starters, it can aspire to have its own Wonder Woman or Barbie moment, a female-fronted film that sets the box office ablaze. “I don’t think that day is far,” she says. “It is not ‘will it happen’, but rather ‘when will it happen’.” For Deepika, it already has, with Padmaavat, the Bhansali period drama with her face on its poster.

Her talent and success are out there, but there’s also the I’msexy-and-I-know-it Deepika who shines in Cocktail or in Pathaan’s ‘Besharam Rang’ song. Here, she exudes sexuality, confidence and power, a deadly combination that has occasionally irked the fringe. “It could be lack of education, exposure, perspective and generations of conditioning,” she says. Deepika just shuts down the noise. “Everything that you see of me is who I am,” she says. “I don’t shy away from embracing my journey or experiences.”

That journey begins with being the daughter of Prakash Padukone, one of India’s most decorated athletes, and being an athlete herself until she befriended the camera. She knows what it means to fight your own battles. Says Deepika, “Maybe I wanted to do this all on my own out of choice. When you don’t have to demand respect but you command it, it is extremely empowering and gratifying.”

LIFE MOTTO “Never second-guess yourself. And take care of yourselves without guilt”

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