Deepika Padukone at an event on Monday, (05.20.2013). Photo by Viral Bhayani

That day, Pallavi’s body language was giving out strange signals. There’s a phase in your life when you stop planning and take each day as it comes. You wait for a signal from God and actually let him find a way out for you rather than go out and make one for yourself. Her body language was screaming out a message — ‘I don’t know what to do next, but I hope to find a way out of this soon.’

Pallavi’s eyes were still as attractive as ever and continued sparkling throughout the conversation. But there was a change in the sparkle in her eyes. It seemed to glisten through a slight veil of tears that threatened to spill over, but was kept firmly in check. But how much ever Pallavi seem to have gained victory over her despair, it still glistened through. And those who did not miss anything, saw through her.

Just a month ago, I came across those eyes again – sparkling and smiling bravely through the charade. But those eyes did not belong to Pallavi, instead, I found myself looking at the statuesque Deepika Padukone. The place: the same press conference where the film’s hero and her ex-beau, Ranbir Kapoor chided a journalist for asking Deepika if she still wanted to show off the RK tattoo (that she got made when she was in a relationship with him) on her neck. Deepika’s eyes ‘sparkled’ immediately after the question was thrown at her.

Watch the video of the event here -> 

What connects Pallavi to Deepika

Like Pallavi, Deepika stepped into Bollywood as a rank newcomer. And like Pallavi, got groomed for success – first as India’s top model, and later as an actress. She got a break with a big banner and got an opportunity to act opposite the biggest name in Bollywood. Both Pallavi and Deepika were good at their jobs and caught everyone’s attention almost immediately.

Never short of male attention, their confidence kept soaring with every film. Both Pallavi and Deepika, were found partying with their male friends and colleagues when they started off as newbies, and both graduated with flying colours — Pallavi proved to be a feature writer of note with her very  first article, while Deepika got a massive hit with her very first movie, Om Shanti Om. Everything was going fine for both of them till the management trainees walked into their life.

Enter, Ranbir Kapoor.

Ranbir was just like Zubin. A newbie loaded with a lot of charm, talent and a pedigree to show off. And just like Zubin, who was a scion of an industrialist family, Ranbir came from the first family of Bollywood – the Kapoors. Ranbir was learning every rope of the job along the way, while Deepika — already a pro by then — was by his side, watching him grow on his turf.

Time for the inevitable – and the two fell in love!

Suddenly the lady with the mostest took a backseat to her beau’s career. Something that we have already seen happening in the case of Pallavi!

A love like theirs

Pallavi was living in another world when she was dating Zubin. Like she was existing in some alternate reality! If several friends (like me) tried to drive some sense in Pallavi, there were others too who were trying to do the same with Deepika. Though aware of everything, Deepika blissfully chose to ignore everything that was being conveyed to her. Much like Pallavi.

The alternate reality lasted till they were together in a film and after its release, akin to the dreamlike existence that Pallavi experienced when she and Zubin were put together to cover similar assignments.

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in a still from Bachna Ae Haseeno

 Once Bachna Ae Haseeno was over, Ranbir moved on to bigger things in life and started getting the best offers, while Deepika continued to be a second-rung heroine in Bollywood (the first rung then was then occupied by Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Vidya Balan, Bipasha Basu and Rani Mukerji).

Distance crept in as Ranbir became busy with other assignments, the calls and text messages dwindled even as Deepika tried to maintain the romance in the relationship. But after a point Deepika was too proud to chase Ranbir, who understandably got busy in building on his new-found success.

U-turn and after

It took a long time for Pallavi to resign to the fact that Zubin had never really been in love with her, and moved on to dating other beautiful women. Deepika sulked for sometime when she saw Ranbir dating other women; she was still to get over her love for Ranbir. But she (and Pallavi) moved on too eventually. Life seemed normal again. Like Pallavi, Deepika too started dating casually like the one below.

Deepika on a casual date with co-star Ranveer Singh in Dubai

 But while all things could be controlled, what couldn’t be controlled was her work profile, which she shared with her ex. Both their paths had to cross again… and again. Be it Pallavi and Zubin, or be it Deepika and Ranbir. The job market suddenly shrank for Pallavi as it did for Deepika. There were too many talented newcomers, and not too many good roles. Suddenly the films meant for her started going to newbies waiting in the wings like Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Ileana D’Cruz, Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor. With not too many options, even when it came to heroes (with some recommending their own set of heroines), it made better sense to take up a good offers (Ayan Mukerji’s film) and work with Ranbir again. Besides, it is now a given that if you don’t get the Khans, then Ranbir is the next best option. But just like Zubin, Ranbir has moved on in life and is dating Katrina Kaif, who it is said, hates Deepika’s guts and would look through her if they met.

Deepika’s position as it stands today is so reminiscent of Pallavi, but chances of Deepika admitting that to me over a cup of coffee is zilch.

And on that note, I leave you with the latest song of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani that still screams out loudly the chemistry that Deepika and Ranbir shared at one point of time.

Watch: The song from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, titled ‘Dilli Wali Girlfriend’ ->

Here is the link to the first part of the article -> https://bollywoodbingo.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/deepika-padukone-ranbir-kapoor-and-a-girl-called-pallavi/

The short-link of the article -> http://wp.me/p3x1zT-2z