Deepika Padukone reveals how she and her family prepared for India's coronavirus lockdown

With celebrities and interview hosts hunkered down at home, they've had to regroup and figure out new formats to keep their fans entertained and engaged. Deepika Padukone, a big proponent of staying connected with her followers during this quarantine period, joined Anupama Chopra in an interview from her home, sharing tidbits about surviving lockdown, her thoughts about the film industry, and the arguments she has had with husband Ranveer Singh. 

Deepika Padukone described the importance of speaking about mental health right now

The actor, who has always been forthcoming about her experience with depression, shared that her mental health struggles actually informed her approach to the uncertainty and stress of COVID-19. “Post mental illness, I feel like I was on this journey already, of understanding life beyond materialism, and wanting to grow and evolve as a person. I feel like that journey for me already began in 2014, so I am not finding this period difficult at all. In fact, there is a lot of introspection and self-realisation that I am enjoying. I seem to be at peace about what is coming our way,” she shared. But she noted that conversations about mental health are few and far between. “I feel like it's one of those things that has been underrepresented, there is not enough focused on mental health in a crisis,” she said. While she and Singh donated to the PM Cares fund, they've also been focusing on ramping up awareness through Padukone's platform, The Live Love Laugh Foundation. “It's great that I think everyone's donating to food and you know the medical fraternity and masks, but there's also mental illness that's so important, and hasn't been highlighted enough.”

The actor also revealed the one habit of hers that Ranveer Singh complains about on the family Whatsapp group

Padukone, who has started a quarantine productivity series on her Instagram, has been cleaning her closet, labelling her groceries and working out at home. “I'm never bored," she shared. “My mother always says it, Ranveer keeps saying it, ‘Can you sit in one place? Can you not have to do something all the time?’ And I don’t know. I am always up to something, my mind is always occupied. He calls it ‘phat-phat’ and then he complains on the family group." In fact, even an injury couldn't stop her. “I sprained my back two days ago when I was ‘cleaning’. And then I was bored. So he made sure before he went down to the gym, he said ‘You’re not moving from here you’ve sprained your back’. And he made a surprise visit in 20 minutes and I was not in my bed I was up on a shelf, trying to clean something and he got really wild," she said. 

Deepika Padukone opened up about COVID content

While some international celebrities have been chastised for the content they've been putting out during this time, Padukone is headstrong about her mission. “I think first of all people need to stop thinking of actors as dumb people. You know, there's this thing that it's all about vanity, and this sort of life. I'd say the majority of us are pretty smart and pretty intelligent. And I think we know what is happening, we understand the seriousness of the situation. We are doing everything in our capacity to stay indoors, to be careful with social distancing, being responsible towards our nation in terms of what we can give back to the have-nots,” she shared. “Plus, there are people who live with mental health on a daily basis, so they're probably looking for content that helps them get their mind of everything that's going on in the world."

She also spoke about postponing the release of '83

While she's been taking a positive spin on her new reality through lockdown, Deepika Padukone also spoke about sticking with the same thought process as she and Singh dealt with the postponement of their upcoming film release, '83. “I don't think professionally there was any concern. It's not like '83 is the only movie that gets affected. You feel like, it's okay. We're all in this together. Whether it is production getting delayed, or films taking a beating, or releases getting pushed. We'll all have to deal with it together when we get out of it,” she shared. She also described that personal issues, like that of keeping herself and her family safe, were top of mind instead. "At a personal level, I don't think I was thinking of that at all. I was thinking that there were other decisions to be made, like will my parents be okay? Do I need to bring them in here? Should we be going there? Do we need to do this lockdown together as a family?"

But still, Padukone is worried about the state of the industry, especially because the situation does not have a blueprint. “What we're going through has never happened, so there's no way of saying, when we come out of this, this is how it'll pan out. Ranveer's grandfather, who is ninety or ninety plus, has never experienced something like this. He has been a part of the partition, and fought in wars, but even he says, this is unprecedented,” she shared. “I'm thinking of the millions of rupees that are potentially lost. Anyway, the filmmaking business is not really a lucrative business, most people do it because they're passionate about telling story."

But that doesn't mean that there's isn't stuff brewing for Padukone in the entertainment space. “There's stuff I'm exploring, scripts that I'm reading, meetings that were set up before this,” she shares. And as for The Intern, her rom-com project due to be released in 2021? “It's that Yeh Jawaani-ish, Piku-ish, that sort of sweet, feel-good film with a simple message. Maybe just half a tear? It's in that space.”

Deepika Padukone also expressed gratitude for this new way of life

Deepika Padukone's cooking, cleaning and organising sessions have been well-documented, and she's been enjoying the process. "It's given me time to reconnect with my home. The last couple of years was so busy, and you're out all the time. People make fun—oh she's labelling her groceries. But I cooked a Thai meal yesterday, and it was easy because I knew where everything was. A lot of people feel like that is the life I always lived, but I worked to get to where I am. I started off living in a rented apartment in Bombay, I lived alone. You didn't have the home delivery as easy as it is today. There were days I would order in food, I didn't know how to cook, so I'd come back late at night and eat cold food—eat half an idli that was left—cleaned the house, did laundry. So, this is easy for me."

Watch the complete interview below.

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