It's her first trip to Bangladesh and speaking from Dhaka, Deepika Padukone is over whelmed by the outpouring of love for Piku across the border. On Saturday she was asked to sing on stage and hummed a few lines of Ei path jodi na shesh hoy from the Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen starrer, Saptapadi. In Shoojit Sircar's film, she and Amitabh Bachchan sing a snatch from it while driving to Kolkata and during the filming Shoojit had told her it was a popular Bengali song and not to forget the lines. “I remembered the words and soon everyone in the huge auditorium were singing with me,“ she laughs, surprised to learn that Suchitra Sen was originally from Bangladesh.

Piku, which many see as an unveiling of their lives on screen, struck an instant chord with Deepika too since she comes from a middle-class family with a progressive outlook but rooted in traditional culture. “I also woke up to complaints about the clogged sink or the missing maid. Even today, when I visit my parents in Bangalore, my sister and I lay the table for dinner and heat the food. I even help my mom with the washing up and make my own bed. The maid is there only during the day,“ says the actress who followed Shoojit's brief to 'just be you' while negotiating the challenging roles.

With the surprise hit making critics smile and cash counters jingle, it was time to party. Many questioned her timing, as her success bash came within days of Ranbir Kapoor's Bombay Velvet debacle. She insists the party was a last-minute idea, with calls going out only the night before. She points out that all the Bombay Velvet makers-Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena and Vikas Bahl-were there. “Only Vikramaditya Motwane was away in Cannes. I also invited Ranbir and Katrina (Kaif) but I can understand them not wanting to party since I've gone through similar phases in my career. I will never do anything to hurt Ranbir. He'd talk to me about Bombay Velvet during Tamasha, admitted it was a difficult character even for a brilliant actor like him. I've yet to see the film but it belonged to friends of mine and I empathise with their pain, I think the negativity surrounding it is unfair,“ she sighs.

Her next release is Tamasha and she points out that while she's worked with Imtiaz (Ali) and Ranbir individually, in Love Aaj Kal and Bachna Ae Haseeno and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, it was her dream to make a movie with both together. Before the year ends, she'll have a third release, Bajirao Mastani, and admits she was surprised when two months after Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela, she returned from her New Year's holiday to be offered this film. “I've been reading about it since I entered the industry but I never imagined I'd play Mastani. I asked Sanjay (Leela Bhansali) if he was sure he wanted to work with me again after a year of Ram Leela,“ she laughs.

Bajirao Mastani reunites her with Ranveer Singh. They've been spending time together but it was only recently, after a special screening of Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do, that they posed for the paparazzi together. “Don't over-analyse these situations,“ she chides. “It wasn't planned, it just happened and we were happy to be clicked together.“ So is Ranveer more than a 'good friend' now? “He and I are very clear about our equation and what we mean to each other. I don't have to give the relationship a tag for someone reading this,“ she retorts. “I was at the screening to support those I love. Ranveer supported me when I made an unconventional Finding Fanny. I wanted to be there for this film that he's worked so hard on even if it had nothing to do with me.“

She admits that her friends, producer Ritesh Sidhwani and Zoya gave her the script to read a year ago. “I knew all the punch lines, the characters, which scene came next, yet I was blown away by the film,“ she asserts.

She was also blown away by Ranveer's performance. “He's a chameleon. I'd seen him in Band Baaja Baraat, Lootera and Ram Leela. Then to see him so comfortable in a different, more urban world, made me react with an amazed, 'You can do this also!'“ she says. A date clash with Bajirao Mastani cost her Shhuddhi which is now being made with Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. Deepika insists she's happy for Karan Johar and Karan Malhotra that the film is finally getting made.

She herself is revelling in the fact that content is queen and the audience is taking owner ship for different films like Piku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Meanwhile, taking a detour from her reel trip, she'll be registering her foundation for mental health, Live, Love, Laugh, today. “The official announcement will come later. By October, the website and foundation should be able to reach out to those in need of help. The idea is to work towards a beautiful mind,“ she signs off, boarding a flight for the City of Joy which Piku drove towards not so many weeks ago.