Actors Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan attended a panel discussion titled The Journey: From Outsider to Ruler at the WAVES 2025 summit. The discussion was moderated by filmmaker Karan Johar, who asked the actors about their journeys in Bollywood as outsiders and their experience of working with one another. Deepika shared her thoughts on working with Shah Rukh Khan and praised the respect he shows toward his female co-stars.
Talking about his attitude towards women, Deepika said, “It’s not just respect for women when the camera is rolling; it’s in every pore of his body. He is always aware of the presence of a woman, and he ensures that she is comfortable and well taken care of. It’s not something he switches on. It’s just inherently who he is, and I don’t know him any other way, and I have known him since I was 16.”
Responding to the compliments, Shah Rukh Khan said that respect for women is something that comes naturally to him. “I hope that it does not come off as a cliché answer, but I have too much respect for women. It comes inherently and innately from within. I just feel genuine love for every woman that I come across in my life. I just find them kinder, and I think they are the ones who provide nature. They are connected to God and nature in some way, and I feel love for women in the kindest, rightest and most sensitive way of the word.”
Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone further reflected on their individual journeys, with the Don actor playfully taking a jab at Karan Johar. He recalled being offered a script that required him to wear a skirt throughout the film and joked that it made him want to quit Bollywood.
The WAVES 2025 Summit was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on Thursday morning and is designed as “a key forum for promoting discussions, collaboration, and innovation in the media and entertainment industry”.
