Deepika Padukone shares her take on nepotism in Bollywood

Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar participated in a discussion at Waves Summit 2025. The two-day event aims to give a boost to India’s media and entertainment industry with global participation. Deepika and Shah Rukh had a heartfelt chat, as the audience listened to the two of them share insights about Bollywood and reflect on their journeys as artistes.

When the conversation steered to nepotism and the ever-relevant ‘insider and outsider’ debate, Deepika Padukone shared her take. The actress noted that terms like “insider” and “outsider” are being discussed recently, as they weren’t that popular before. She said, “These are terms that we seem to be discussing now… insider or outsider… When I began, it was just a new world. I was a seventeen-year-old girl who came from Bangalore.”

While she made her debut with the Kannada movie Aishwarya in 2006, the actress opened up about her Bollywood debut, Om Shanti Om. “Farah Khan showed interest in casting me in a movie. I was transitioning between Bangalore and Mumbai. She did not even audition me. I remember doing a meeting with her once, and she said, ‘I want you to meet Shah Rukh once.’ He was shooting for Chak De! in Australia at that time. She said we’d do a meeting once he was back. That was it. For me, it just happened,” she added.

Elaborating on her career as a model before, Deepika agreed that it helped her grab opportunities. However, her dedication and passion were her ultimate saviours. She said, “Of course, I was a model before that. They had seen some of my work. But I never felt that I was an outsider trying to make my place in a new industry. I had the dedication, passion, determination and hard work. Those were the things that were in my control. Those were the things that had applied to what I was passionate about.”

Deepika also recalled receiving love and warmth from Shah Rukh on the sets of Om Shanti Om. During the discussion, Shah Rukh also lauded Deepika as a new mother.