Deepika Padukone, 33, saw her career ignited by her starring role in Farah Khan’s 2007 hit Om Shanti Om.
Despite being at the very start of her acting career, then working as a runway model, Padukone was miraculously cast in the Bollywood movie without even auditioning for the part.
Khan, 54, cast the King of Bollywood Rukh Khan, 53, in the movie but, much to the surprise of her backers, chose to take a chance on a then completely unknown Padukone for the leading female role — that of a huge Indian starlet in the 1970s whom the main man fell in love with.
Having previously met with the xXx Return of Xander Cage star for a project which never came to fruition, the director decided she was the one she wanted for the part.
“Everybody said, ‘What’s wrong with you? Any top actress in the country would give an arm and a leg to do this movie,’” Khan told Harper’s Bazaar.
“I said, ‘No, I want to launch her.’”
Naturally, new actress Padukone had lots to learn on the job, with Khan remembering realising how nervous she was when she saw her trembling between takes.
However, Khan credited Padukone with taking everything in her stride, telling the publication: “If she had butterflies in her stomach, it never showed on her face.”
Now, looking back on how she landed the massive part without so much as an audition, Padukone is still incredulous.
“I should go back and ask them, ‘What were you guys thinking? Why did you not audition me? Why did you risk crores of rupees on me?’” she exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Khan said she just had a “gut feeling” about the young actress.
“To be cast in such a mammoth movie with absolutely no film experience, without auditioning, without any of the usual checks that you go through before being cast in a big film, that was surreal,” Padukone admitted.
“It saved me many years of having to prove myself, but it also meant I had to go through a slump, in a way, just to learn the craft, to learn the mechanics.
“It took me a while to get to where I am now, which is a place of confidence, of comfort, of familiarity,” she added.
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Now, 12 years on from Om Shanti Om, Padukone is one of the biggest stars in Bollywood.
She is also set to reprise her role as Serena Unger in the as yet untitled follow up to 2017’s xXx Return of Xander Cage.
Fans do not yet know when xXx 4 will be released, although there had been reports production was due to begin last December.
To date, there has been no official confirmation production has started, although Vin Diesel, 52, revealed he and Padukone were headed to an xXx “meeting” back in January.
At the time, he shared a picture of the pair of them with his 57 million Instagram followers, teasing: “Heading into a xXx meeting this weekend. Would would you like to see added to the xXx League?”