Identity crisis for Deepika Padukone

Actress Deepika Padukone who was recently in London for a shooting schedule with the cast and crew of Desi Boyz was put up at Oxford University for a couple of days. A major chunk of the London schedule for the film was shot in the university campus and most of the crew would hang around the campus all day long. Deepika on most days was accompanied by her co-stars John Abraham, Akshay Kumar and Chitrangda Singh, but on this one particular occasion, she happened to be strolling alone inside the campus.

While most of B-town stars are often mobbed in Mumbai, they usually go unrecognised abroad or even worse, get mistaken for the locals and that is what exactly happened with Dippy. A source from the sets says, “She had a couple of hours free and decided to look around the campus. While she was walking around, students at the university thought she was a new student and were very thrilled at having a new, pretty girl on the block. While initially she thought the comments and stares would eventually stop, they didn’t for a while and she started attracting more attention. Some students apparently even hit on her, but she ignored it and started moving ahead. Despite that a couple of students kept following her and talking to her.”

Finally she got really flustered and while the adulation was overwhelming, she finally decided to confront the students. She spoke to this guy who was following her and told him that she was an actress from Bollywood. Apparently, he didn’t believe her. She finally had to look around for a crew member who revealed that she indeed was an actress.

The source continues, “The student thought it was a prank and still didn’t believe them. The crew person then took the student and showed him the shooting equipments and a few stills from the movie, following which he was in shock and felt extremely embarrassed.” The guy was embarrassed and apologised to Deepika, while offering to treat her to a cup of coffee. Dippy too obliged him while having a cup of coffee with him and of course she had a new fan as well.

m_sneha@dnaindia.net