Deepika Padukone: xXx star REJECTS Hollywood AND Bollywood rules 'They need to change'

She’s the highest-paid actress in Bollywood but reveals she did it by tearing up the rule-book. Not only that, but Deepika has broken into Hollywood with the xXx franchise alongside Vin Diesel. But don’t ask her to play and “exotic assistant.” In fact, she doesn’t think Hollywood is the goal anymore as the whole world starts to look East. The star gave a major new interview while she is in the UK to film ’83 with her husband Ranveer Singh and bluntly set the record straight.

The 33-year-old spoke with the NET-A-PORTER in-house magazine PorterEdit.

Deepika said: “While the conversation about diversity seems to happen [in Hollywood] now, I feel there is still a long way to go before they truly understand it.”

She revealed she was being offered very stereotypical ethnic roles: “Or the exotic. The exotic assistant to the detective. I am going to meetings to let people know not just about me, but that there is a whole big world out there beyond America. And they need to see that.”

In fact, she thinks the global industry is starting to shift away from Hollywood…

Deepika added: “I feel that’s a bit dated. Today, the world is much more than that. If anything, I think today the West is looking east.”

Not that Bollywood is perfect either.

The actress has faced criticism for speaking up on women’s issues and wider social concerns, not content to play the biddable and traditional female roles on screen or in the industry at large. 

She said: “I feel like a lot of actors are just content with what they do for themselves. I’m not that person. I feel like if I am in a certain place today, I would like to use that. It makes me angry sometimes to see extremely influential and talented people who don’t really try to do anything beyond what they want to do. That’s a personal choice, but it makes me sad.”

Deepika says everything changed for her when she decided to be more true to herself: “I was trying to be someone I was not, trying to fit the model of being an Indian film actor, being a certain way, wearing certain clothes. When I decided to shed all that is when everything started falling into place.”

To see the full interview, read PorterEdit or download the NET-A-PORTER app for iPhone, iPad and Android.