Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone has been voted as the sexiest of her species. Model Deepika Padukone, who turned actress with Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Om Shanti Om' started hitting the headlines long before the release of her first film. And by the release of her second film 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' she had plenty more reasons to be in news, the most prominent one being her relationship with Kapoor scion Ranbir Kapoor.

As she grew up she strolled into her father path as a national level badminton player. At the same time her mother's influence got her into Bharatnatyam. But destiny had something else in mind. During a casual outing, Deepika's tall, slender figure caught the eyes of a photographer, who persuaded her for a photo shoot and then there was no looking back for the Padukone girl. Deepika bounced off to modelling mid-way from becoming another badminton great. As if it might have been destined, she became a supermodel instead and big banners came running to her, like peas to a pod. Within a few years, she was the face of Liril, Dabur, Close-Up and Limca. Prestigious modelling offers poured in and she became the brand ambassador of the Jewels of India, an annual jewellery exhibition. She hit the international circuit when Maybelline made her its international cover girl. When luck came dancing her way at an astonishing pace, recognition had to follow suit. At the fifth annual Kingfisher Awards, Deepika was awarded the title of Model of the Year and Playboy Magazine Cover Winner. The Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar, a prestigious platform in the world of modelling, selected her as one of their models for the 2006 edition. This was not the end. Two more awards followed later that year including the Idea Zee Fashion Awards – Female Model of the Year and Fresh Face of the Year. And just recently Deepika was signed for Fiama di Wills.

Deepika today is considered as someone who could fill up the void of young female superstars. Aishwarya Rai is no more that young and Madhuri Dixit and Kajol faded into oblivion long back. No wonder then she is the choice of every director right from Priyadarshan to Siddharth Anand to Nikhil Advani. While she has won all the debutant awards this year, her big prize would certainly be the fact that she and her father are back to be great pals now… after rumours that her getting into modelling had not gone down too well with him. They even had a friendly badminton match recently which was watched by all the media eyes.