Deepika Padukone’s Road to success

Deepika had a good start with Cocktail, where her works were praised and gained more attention for her acting in 2012. In an interview with The Indian Express, Padukone said that her starring role in Homi Adajania-directed romantic comedy Cocktail marked a significant turning point in her career. Raja Sen of Rediff.com opined that she had successfully proved to be a "stunning girl who can also act." Set in London, Cocktail tells the story of a software engineer (played by Saif Ali Khan) and his relationship with two temperamentally different women-an impulsive party girl (Veronica, played by Padukone) and a submissive girl next door(Meera, played by Diana Penty). During the script narration, the producer Dinesh Vijan offered Padukone the choice of which woman to play; she decided on Veronica to expand her horizons as an actress. Portraying the role was a creative and physical challenge for her, and to achieve the physical requirements of her character she exercised extensively and followed a rigorous diet. Critics were divided in their opinion of the film, but particularly praised Padukone's performance; Devesh Sharma of Filmfare credited her as the "soul of the film" and wrote that she "excels in every scene, whether as a material girl who enjoys sex, drugs and rock and roll or as the jealousy ridden girl out to destroy herself." Cocktail earned Padukone Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies, including Filmfare, Screen, and IIFA. The film proved a box office hit as well. After struggling with the five films she starred in failed to become a box office hits, the movie acted as a stepping stone for further successful movies and roles that gave her more scope for her acting as well.