The year 2013 brought immense success, or "Rajyog," for Deepika Padukone. Rajyog doesn’t mean that a king of a country will leave and hand over the throne to you. It means that wherever you are and whatever you are doing, no one can match you.
In Bollywood, people arrive after a great deal of struggle and often spend years yearning for just one hit film. Some succeed and stay, while others return home. Many kings and emperors have tried their luck in the film industry, but without fortune, no matter how hard they tried, their films didn’t succeed.
On the other hand, some ordinary people have achieved great success. After struggling for years, when their film finally released, it was celebrated like a festival. Slowly, these ordinary people became special. Those who were once called burdens on their families eventually became "dear to all."
This year, Deepika had four films released. If we speak in the language of film trade analysts, two were blockbusters, one was a superhit, and one was a hit. Such a combination has only happened once or twice in the history of cinema, and that too after several decades. In the era of Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, something similar occurred. There are often different reasons for this: sometimes the film is multi-starrer, sometimes it's a mega-budget production, or sometimes it's a remake of an already successful movie.
"Race 2" was a successful film. After "Cocktail," it gave Deepika her second boost. Directed by Abbas-Mustan, it was a sequel to their 2006 film "Race." The star cast was excellent, featuring Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, and John Abraham. There were three leading ladies: Deepika Padukone, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Ameesha Patel, while Bipasha Basu also made a guest appearance. Deepika greatly benefited from this film, which was the first to join the 100-crore club that year.
In recent times, a film’s success or failure is often determined by its box office earnings compared to its budget. There have been many examples in the past where acclaimed films didn’t even recover their costs, while some widely-watched movies were deemed flops because of their enormous budgets.
As for "Race 2," its global success was grand, while domestically, it was only moderately successful. However, if you spend 60 crore rupees and earn 160 crore globally, it’s considered a huge success. Like "Cocktail," this film also had melodious music composed by Pritam. Among the three actresses, Deepika Padukone certainly stood out over Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel.
When "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani" was released, many assumed it would be an average film like the old Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) and Randhir Kapoor movie "Jawani Diwani," especially because its title was taken from a song in that older film. However, this new-age movie turned out to be a huge hit and became one of the decade's blockbusters. Its catchy songs became immensely popular, and young audiences loved the movie. Deepika starred alongside Ranbir Kapoor.
Produced by Karan Johar and directed by Ayan Mukerji, the film had an interesting backstory. Before the film, Deepika and Ranbir were in a relationship, but they had broken up. Ayan Mukerji wasn’t sure if they would agree to act in a film focused entirely on their on-screen banter and romance. But when Ranbir agreed to work with Deepika, the producers approached her, and surprisingly, she accepted. This showed Deepika’s professionalism, as she separated work from personal life. Otherwise, the producers were already planning to approach Katrina Kaif or Anushka Sharma if Deepika refused.
The film was a massive success and filled the producer's pockets with profits. According to modern standards, even after entering the 100-crore club, the film continued to reign in cinemas. Some experts predicted it might become the third highest-grossing film after "3 Idiots" and "Ek Tha Tiger."
It has always been known that heroines are cautious about their image and looks in films, often disagreeing with directors over their appearance. But Deepika Padukone embraced her character's demand to wear glasses in the film. She became so attached to the glasses that she requested to keep them as a memento after the shoot.
Such attachments to costumes or props have been seen before, with actors considering certain items like a hat, clothes, or shoes to be their lucky charm. But Deepika’s connection was different, as she had accepted the film after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, and it seemed she became more attached to the props in the film than her co-star.
Apart from Ranbir, the film also starred Aditya Roy Kapur and Kalki Koechlin, with a special appearance by Madhuri Dixit in one of the songs.
Ultimately, the film became a blockbuster, reaffirming Deepika’s place at the top, a place she always deserved. The songs from the movie were hugely popular, especially the Holi song, which played in streets and cities across the country, though some critics labeled it as having double meanings.
