5 min readNew DelhiAug 4, 2026 04:50 PM IST
Deepika Padukone’s performance in Cocktail is often regarded as a turning point in her career and soon after that film, she was cast in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela. This was Deepika’s first collaboration with Bhansali, and after this, they worked in two more films as well. In a recent interview, actor Jayati Bhatia recalled working with Deepika during the preparation of her role in the film, as Jayati had been hired by Bhansali’s team to help Deepika with her characterisation. Jayati recalled that Deepika was completely dedicated to her craft and managed to achieve what Bhansali expected out of her in a short span of time.
‘Deepika Padukone became fearless after Cocktail’
Jayati recalled that she was supposed to hold workshops with Deepika for seven days, with every workshop day lasting for four hours. Bhansali had asked Jayati that she must “open Deepika up” by the end of the process. “When I started working with her, she did it with full commitment, full energy. I was told to work with her for seven days, for four hours each but after the fourth day, I told Bhansali, ‘Sir, she has become a fearless actress after Cocktail. Cocktail is her breakthrough role. If I work with her for three more days, I will waste her time, and yours. Go for it. She will do whatever you tell her. She is mouldable, fearless; she wants to do something which will challenge her’,” Jayati recalled.
Jayati recalled another anecdote from her workshop days and said that she designed an activity where Deepika was supposed to abuse her heart out. This was designed in a fashion that she can let go of her hesitation and be free in front of the camera. Jayati said that since she can’t abuse much, she also looked at this activity as a challenge for herself and did it first, in front of Deepika, so she could follow her lead.
‘Deepika Padukone abused without any hesitation’
“Bhansali’s office has a balcony and there is a snack vendor downstairs. I told her that your exercise is to just abuse loudly standing in that balcony. Don’t look down but act like you are addressing it to someone,” she recalled. Jayati said that they had prepared a scene and this activity was designed so Deepika could vent out her feelings. “She opened the door and then she started abusing. I had finished the scene at a particular abusive word, but she went beyond that. She gave more to the scene, said more abusive words, the ones that I had never even heard. Whatever she had heard and she just went for it. And I said, ‘Wow’,” she said and added, “She did not feel hesitant that someone might watch her. She was already a star. People knew her. But she had no fear.”
Jayati recalled her first interaction during this workshop with Deepika where the actor expressed that she was expecting to play a “sublime” character. “I told Bhansali that she thinks you are giving her a sublime character. He said, ‘She is in for a shock’. In Ram-Leela, her character was of an emotional, feisty girl.”
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in a scene from Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela.
‘Deepika was giving her 100 percent’
Jayati shared that at the time, Deepika was also going through depression but she never expressed any of her troubles. “I didn’t know that, at the time, she was going through depression. I didn’t know that, and she didn’t let me know about that. Why did I not get to know? Because for those four hours, she gave me her 100 percent. Whatever I told her, she would do; she would do more than she was asked,” she said.
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She also recalled her first encounter with Deepika at Anupam Kher’s acting institute, in the early days of Deepika’s career. “There too, I saw that she was very truthful. She was told that her Hindi is not very good, and she has to work at that, and she was asked to speak in Hindi. I asked her a couple of questions in English, but she responded in Hindi,” she recalled.
‘Deepika was asked to work on her Hindi in early days’
Since Deepika had appeared in many ads by then, she was a popular model, and Jayati was already a fan of her beautiful looks. “I said it’s very nice that you responded in Hindi. She said, ‘Yes, I have been told to work on my Hindi.’ You see her commitment. I met her years later. She remembered that one day when we had spent together at Anupam Kher’s institute,” she recalled.
Jayati and Deepika are yet to share screen space in a film. Deepika will next be seen in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer King, which releases in December 2026. She will also be seen alongside Allu Arjun in Atlee’s next.
