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Originally posted by: eeyoretel
Padukones are Kashmiri pandits. This is what Kalpana Lajmi said once:
Explaining her relationship with Deepika, she said: "We're both descendents of the great Guru Dutt. Deepika and I are Saraswat Brahmins. Her family and mine can be traced back to Kashmir. We're basically evicted Kashmiri pundits who migrated to Bangalore.
"If you remember my uncle Guru Dutt (her artist mother Lalita Lajmi's brother) was settled in Bangalore and so is Deepika's father Prakash Padukone. Deepika is definitely related to me, though she doesn't know it. But I hope she knows about me," Lajmi said.
https://www.bollywood.com/kalpana-lajmi-wants-work-relative-deepika-padukone
There are plenty of competing theories about the origins of Saraswat Brahmins and no one can agree on what's the correct story of origin. For instance, the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) are supposed to have migrated from Bengal (well hello - they even have Gaud (ancient name of Bengal) in their name).
So yeah, the Kashmiri or Bengali origins are debatable. They've been living on the Konkan coast and Karnataka for generations and their mother tongue is Konkani. End of story.
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