Saif Ali Khan makes me comfortable: Deepika Padukone

She has no qualms in stating facts — no matter how others react to it and that holds good even for a part of the controversies about her that keep popping up every now and then. During her visit to her hometown, the actress speaks about her latest film, Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan.

"I play a young, independent girl, Poorvi Anand, who’s torn between her father, Amitabh Bachchan and her lover, Saif Ali Khan. The former is the head of a prestigious institution while the latter is an underprivileged Dalit teacher and how issues of reservation flare up between them,” she informs.

Ask her if she’s ever found herself on the crossroad of relationships and she quips, “Thankfully, never. Though I know it happens often to women, who are multitasking always. The Bangalore girl adds, “Aarakshan, as the name suggests, is reservation, which has given rise to the commercialisation of the education system. And a major chunk of the student community depend on these extra classes to fare well.” To bring into a two-hour film what almost accounts to a Rs40,000 crore industry is no mean task, but Prakash has done so effortlessly, feels the actress.

“This is my first film with him and though he’s a hard taskmaster, he’s very paternal too. Also, I was amazed to see his man management skills. Like a lot of his earlier films, this one too was shot in Bhopal with huge crowds who aren’t camera-savvy. To train and be patient with scores of people and yet, get work done with the cast rolling is something a genius can do,” says Deepika.

Quiz her on working with the rest of the cast and Deepika adds, “Prateik was like a breath of fresh air and his spontaneity is remarkable. I didn’t have much on screen space with Manoj (Bajpai) and Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) is truly a stalwart. It’s a dream come true.”

Of course, there’s Saif too, who Deepika has worked with before in the hit Love Aaj Kal and for yet another home production of his. “Just like there’s excitement to work with a new face, especially because of the unpredictability, it’s reassuring to have someone I’ve worked with before. And Saif makes me comfortable. I’m very fond of his works and think he’s one of the finest actors today,” she explains.

Since her debut, Deepika has had a spate of hits and misses but that hasn’t affected her work flow the least bit. Ask her for a film that’s been closest to her and she says, “There are two actually — Om Shanti Om, since it was my debut and my association with Shah Rukh Khan and the other, Love Aaj Kal. In fact, I think of all the characters I’ve portrayed, this one’s the closest to the real me.” And is there something that she’d like to change in her life?

“Nothing — it’s all perfect,” she ends.