Beauty, bandh and Bolly

Deepika Padukone at RCGC on Tuesday afternoon. Picture by Pabitra Das

If bandh culture does stage a comeback, Calcutta might just have a beautiful new resident — Deepika Padukone. The ramp scorcher-turned-actress said on Tuesday she “wished” she lived in Calcutta. “Wow, so many bandhs — so many holidays!” smiled the 20-year-old busybee, in town to tee off Infocom CXO Golf 2006 at RCGC.

Bandh or no bandh, Deepika had a job to do. And like everything else, she did it in style. Looking just right for a winter golf morning, she came dressed in denims, a white jacket over a white top, large-framed sunglasses, golf shoes, gold clutch and beaded neckpiece in place. GoodLife caught up with Deepika, as she bedazzled everyone on the greens.

“I begin shooting for Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om (opposite a certain Shah Rukh Khan) in January… I’ll be working every single day of my life. It’s going to be like a proper job, only worse. I have to start shooting at 5 am and not finish till midnight and double shifts mean 24 hours of work,” says Deepika, standing tall — all of 5 ft 8 — at the crossroads of two careers after two years of modelling.

“Though I did Aishwarya, a south Indian film, we didn’t shoot continuously. It was never more than a two-week schedule at a stretch…”

Deepika is apprehensive about walking off the ramp — she’ll make an appearance to start or end a show from now on — on to reel. “I always knew I wanted to do something different and, that too, differently, and that’s why I stayed away from the Miss India, Miss World and Miss Universe path. Moreover, I wanted to be known as a super model independently, with no titles and no frills,” she adds.

The daughter of badminton great Prakash Padukone feels life won’t change much after filmdom. “I am a private person who loves spending time with close friends and family. I am suddenly not going to start attending more or fewer parties than I am used to...”

A “jeans-and-tees person”, Deepika claims that on a normal day she looks like any other college-going girl. “It is difficult to recognise me with no make-up and my hair tied back.”

Make-up is every model’s must, especially if she happens to be the “international cover face” for make-up brand Maybelline. Here are Deepika’s tips, on make-up and more:

Choose the right base shade. If you have great skin, don’t dab unnecessarily, use it only under the eyes and on blemishes — as concealer.

Use a lash stylist (from Maybelline, of course!). The brush is “fantastic” and adds volume naturally.

Suck in your cheeks and apply the blush. Make sure the bristles are soft; clean it after use.

Evening make-up need not always be dramatic and over-the-top. If you like the natural look, then stick by it at night too, just add more mascara.

Never put too many good things together; they all get lost. Let few great things shine through.

Before she left to take a second round of the golf course before heading for her hotel spa, the million-dollar question: will she talk about her love life? (Read, what’s up between her and model Nihar Pandya.) “You know I won’t talk about my personal life na,” she blushed.

Deepika dossier

DoB: January 5, 1986
Sun sign: Capricorn
Typical trait: Shy and reserved
Favourite subject in school: Economics
Actors admired: Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan
She speaks: English, Hindi, Kannada and mother tongue Konkani
Bookmark: Little Women (“That’s the only one I have managed to read!”)