Who is the real Deepika Padukone?

I hope I don’t get a lot of flak for this video – but I think Deepika Padukone is highly overrated.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for some time, and let me clarify what I said above – I think Deepika Padukone needs to dial down her PR game a bit because its making her seem too over the top.

I think she’s is doing it all wrong. I’m not talking about her as an actor in films – I’ve quite liked her in some of them I’m talking about her “real” life.

I just don’t see the hype.

What I DO see is a lot of PR, imagine building and reputation management. Its not all bad, but it’s all too curated, very rehearsed and strategized.

Let me explain.

If you look at her Instagram since the 2020 controversy …

Wait, there is nothing to look at. There aren’t any posts. They’re all wiped out.

Everything always so meticulously planned for her Instagram. I’m sure you remember the tribute by Amul for her presence at Cannes in 2019. She reposted it on Instagram and then deleted it because it basically messed up with the aesthetics of the page.

Moving on to Jan 1^st, 2021 – that is when I think the reputation management kicked in after the 2020 debacle when the PR machinery rolled out a new plan of action and a fresh social media strategy to reposition her image – if you scan through the profile you’ll see its about giving people a glimpse into her world, childhood memories, daily fitness, food habits and showing her being quirky and adorable.

It’s basically a clever PR tactic to quickly change the narrative and distract people from what happen in September of 2020 .. and course correct. The current look and feel is to simply shift focus from all that negativity and repeat stories about her that appear relatable to her followers.

It starts with a post showcasing journey in the industry highlighting all her achievements. Then there’s content following social media trends (in a quirky way) because… well it’s trending … and people love that shit.

There’s also behind the scenes and her being fun-loving, down-to-earth. Childhood memories for engagement and again relatability,

Cutting cake with the paps in 2021 – very well planned.

And remember those videos of her chilling and grooving to music with Siddhant Chaturvedi.. that was only days after the controversy. Again – good tactic to shift the narrative and quickly move away from negative press.

Going back to her social media presence –

Something that really irked me recently was this video of her playing badminton with World Champion PV Sindhu and the narrative of the video was to hype Deepika Padukone. And not the sports champion.

I guess there’s a biopic coming soon… but still.

See, I’m not being hateful or trolling – far from it. I’m just observing her social media activity, public appearance, extremely unauthentic high production value content everywhere.

I think social media is space to be REAL and candid. That’s what people like to see their favorite celebrities do… not act all the time.

At the beginning of this year, I spoke about branding of Bollywood and this is a classic example of that pretentious branding.

Deepika Padukone is being presented as a larger than life role model who can do no wrong, sprinkled with a some cutesy relatable bits here and there, so audience goes “oh, she just like me” It’s just perpetuating the unhealthy celebrity culture that’s really gone out of fashion – don’t you think?

Tell me in the comments and as always, please do like, follow, subscribe.