The star, 33, is best known to Western audiences for her work in 2017’s global hit xXx: Return of Xander Cage, but in Bollywood she has a wealth of hit movies to her name.
Now, after stepping into producing with her new movie Chhapaak, she’s explained why she’s taking another unexpected move: into business and investment.
Speaking to the Financial Times, she explained how it helps her achieve her “life’s goal” of making positive change.
“I think there’s various factors to it,” she said.
“One is the risk factor, one is the excitement factor, the fact it allows me to interact with people from a completely different world.
“The way I invest is exactly the way I would choose say any of my film scripts.
“I think that’s always been my process in anything in life that I do. I think to follow your gut, there’s always a voice inside of you that tells you what you honestly want to do.”
She added that “if you see the kind of companies that I’ve invested in”, they’re all driven towards creating a better world.
“That’s my life’s goal,” she said. “Anything that I do has to be purpose driven, and has to bring about some sort of positive impact – otherwise I would question why I’m doing it.”
And on how being an investor fits into her celebrity brand, she mused: “From my perspective, it’s about having more skin in the game and moving away from endorsements and having more involvement with the brands.”
Deepika’s film slate is also busy at the moment: in addition to Chhapaak, which is out next January, she’s also been working on ’83.
That movie is about the Indian cricket team’s world cup win in the early 1980s, and much of its production has been taking place in the UK.
She’ll star opposite Ranveer Singh, her real-life husband – and interestingly, this will mark a rare occasion when they work together as characters that aren’t ultimately separated by death.
What’s more, she’s expected to reprise her xXx role in xXx 4, which doesn’t have an official title as yet.
Production on the Vin Diesel sequel was expected to start back in January of this year, but there has been no news for quite some time.
The IMDb page still lists her amongst its cast, alongside Jay Chou, Zoe Zhang and Roy Wang.
