Farah Khan on casting Deepika Padukone opposite Shah Rukh Khan in 'Om Shanti Om': 'Her diction was really bad but…'

Deepika Padukone made a grand Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Farah Khan’s 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om. While speaking to Komal Nahta, Farah recalled the process of getting Deepika on board for her second film as a director and why her voice was dubbed.

She reveled, “I had seen her in a Fanta ad and I thought then that this girl is going to be a heroine. I wanted someone who could look like that era’s Hema Malini. I found that quality in her.”

The filmmaker added, “Her diction was bad but when she did songs, her face would light up. She was very expressive with songs.” Due to the challenges with Deepika Padukone’s voice, another artist dubbed for her character in the film ‘Om Shanti Om,’ while the rest of the movie used sync sound.

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She said, “Everything else was sync sound but her voice was dubbed. She was doing diction classes, not very seriously. But she was doing dance class, diction class, Anupam Kher’s acting school. I enrolled her in everything,”

She added, “We were properly training her.”

Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone have done films like Om Shanti Om, Happy New Year, Chennai Express, Pathaan, and now Jawan. The actress was seen in a small but critical role in SRK’s film and the duo has had 100% success record at the box-office so far.

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We are each other’s lucky charm. But honestly, we are beyond luck. We have a sense of ownership over each other.