When Deepika Padukone talked about her modelling career; Revealed how she was offered her first film

Deepika Padukone does not need any introduction. The actress is currently considered one of the most bankable celebs in Bollywood. The actress made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the 2007 film, Om Shanti Om and her performance as Shantipriya in the same was praised by many. Over the years, she has delivered several hits including Bajirao Mastani, Cocktail, Padmaavat, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express, Chhapaak, 83, and many more. Not many know that before entering Bollywood, Deepika was working as a model. She earned a name for herself in the modelling industry as well.

In 2004, at the age of 18, Deepika took the big leap of faith and turned to fashion modelling full time. The actress also appeared in a few commercials as a child. She began to pursue modelling as her full-time career after her 10th board examination. In 2005, the actress made her runway debut and later won the "Model of the Year" award at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards. The Gehraiyaan actress also walked the ramp for late designer Wendell Rodricks, on whose suggestion Malaika Arora passed on her name to Farah Khan for Om Shanti Om. Her first acting stint before films so to say, came when she appeared in Himesh Reshammiya’s music video for 'Naam Hai Tera' from his iconic album Aap Kaa Suroor.

In a resurfaced interview from 2009, during the release of Deepika's film Chandni Chowk To China, the actress talked about her modelling career to BBC and shared how she got her first break, "I'd done a really tiny campaign which went up on the hoardings. And one of the leading people of the agency noticed me on that and he signed me on for one of the bigger brands later on. That's how my modelling career started going. I was about 18 then," Padukone said. Before making it big in the film industry, the star also made a name for herself as a badminton player.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the Love Aaj Kal actress has many interesting films in her pipeline. Padukone will next reunite with Shah Rukh Khan for Yash Raj Films' action film Pathaan alongside John Abraham. Next, she will star opposite Prabhas and Disha Patani in Nag Ashwin's directorial Project K. Apart from this, she also has the American comedy film The Intern co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Fighter with Hrithik Roshan.

Also Read: Throwback: When Deepika Padukone said Veronica's character from Cocktail 'impacted' her personally