Bollywood's latest stunt-woman, Deepika Padukone

Meet Bollywood's latest stunt-woman, Deepika Padukone

Gone are the days when every actor would opt for a body double to perform his or her high-voltage stunt scenes. Joining the bandwagon of stars, who are doing their own action sequences these days is Deepika Padukone. The actress apparently decided against getting a body double to do a risky sequence in her upcoming film, helmed by Abbas-Mustan.

A source from the sets says, "The particular scene required Deepika, who is known for her athletic build, to drive a car through a heavy traffic-laden road with one of the automobile doors dangling open. Producer Ramesh Taurani advised her to use a body double, as it is the safety norm."

But Deepika apparently insisted on doing her own stunt. "With an open door it becomes difficult to balance a moving car. But she was upbeat about the whole thing and she ended up practising for 18 hours for this one particular scene. Ultimately she made it look so smooth," says Taurani.

The sequence took place in Istanbul on a Sunday. The creative producer of the film Jay Shewakramani says, "Since we had written permission to shoot on a bridge only on Sundays, we filmed early morning from 7am to 11am. Throughout, Deepika was in the car getting it right. She had to manoeuvre the car against heavy traffic and had to sway through vehicles moving in her direction. The open door only added to the challenge."