Deepika Padukone, star of Bollywood movies Chennai Express and Padmavaat, talks to the FT’s South Asia Correspondent Stephanie Findlay about becoming a start up investor. Read more at
Deepika padukone is one of the biggest stars in bollywood the 33 year old actress has appeared in some of the biggest hits in the past decade including tonigh express and the historical epic padmavati she has even made the crossover into hollywood starring in xxx the return of xander cage but now she’s looking beyond bollywood and has set her sights on becoming
A player in india’s startup scene she already has stakes in a string of companies and sectors ranging from beauty to space vehicle propulsion i started by asking her what made her want to become an investor i think there’s various factors to it i think one is is the risk factor one is the excitement factor the fact that it allows me to interact with people from
A completely different world so what sort of things are you looking or what appeals to you about companies when you’re sort of scouting to see who or what to invest in the way i invest is exactly the way i would choose see any of my film scripts i think that’s always been my process in anything in life that i do i think to be to follow your gut there’s always a
Voice inside you that tells you what what you want what you honestly want to do and what sort of expertise do you offer as a bollywood star to startups if anything maybe i think i’m sort of bringing emotion to the table i do feel sometimes it gets very number driven and and we’re losing our ability to sort of be driven by emotion and by our gut emotion and kind of
Like a moral sense like it’s not just about how much profit is created but it’s also about the good that the company does oh absolutely that for me goes without saying if if you see the kind of companies that i’ve invested in i think somewhere eventually i think that’s my life’s goal anything that i do in my life has to be purpose driven and has to bring about some
Sort of positive impact otherwise i would question why i’m doing it some of your investments like epic aming epic amaya and for lenko these are sort of in the traditional celebrity sphere you know design healthy living but can you tell us a little bit about your investment in space company bellatrix aerospace i think again it goes back to wanting to to be part of
Something that i think something that i’ll be proud of in terms of your brand how does being an investor fit as part of your celebrity brand and how is that sort of pushing boundaries as a celebrity do you feel from my perspective it’s really about having more skin in the game and moving away from the vanilla endorsements and just having a lot more involvement with
The brand why do you think it’s important for people to see you as a star in this sort of role i don’t expect them to like sigh i expect them to see me as someone who is aligned with with the brand’s vision or with the company’s vision and sure i might bring in because of being an actor i probably bring in some sort of visibility or and and help accelerate their
Their their business growth and where would you say you’ve gotten your business brain from it’s actually very strange because nobody my family’s ever been like pure business minded in a way my mother worked as a travel agent my father’s an athlete my sister’s a golfer now heads my mental health foundation i’m an actor so none of us have really sort of studied
Business but now that you ask me that question i remember a producer that i worked with many years ago at the start of my career told me that one day i would be a producer and this is even before i could think of anything else be acting he said i had a business mind and at that point it made no sense to me because i like i said i i don’t come from that world i
Don’t know anyone i didn’t know anyone at that point who understood business i was really young and so none of that made any sense to me but now that you asked me that question i’m reminded of that that moment i don’t know i don’t know where i get it from thank you thank you so much for your time thank you
Transcribed from video
Deepika Padukone shares her investment principles By Financial Times