By Shreeja Bhattacharya
Deepika Padukone made her big Bollywood debut with Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ in 2007 and a decade later, she made her Hollywood debut with ‘XXX: Return of Xander Cage’ opposite Vin Diesel in 2017. Ever since then, the actress has made several International appearances and has elevated herself to the position of a global persona. However, now, it seems like she is all set to seal the deal as an International star. Deepika has made a historic feat by being the first Indian actor to get a star on the popular Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Yes, you heard that right! Deepika indeed is one of the honorees for the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2026. The actress features on that list in the Motion Pictures category. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce brought out the list live, and the actress featured on it alongside stars such as Rami Malek, Emily Blunt, Demi Moore, Timoth茅e Chalamet, Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci. For those wondering, the final list of names is always selected from a plethora of nominations after a lot of consideration. There are usually five main categories that the names are chosen from- motion pictures, television, live theatre, live performance, recording and sports entertainment. While Deepika is making headlines with this historic feat, netizens are not really convinced that she has gotten this honour through her own merit. A recent Reddit thread has gone viral, where netizens discuss how Hollywood bigwigs, such as Angelina Jolie, have never received this honour, and thus Deepika’s inclusion in the list is attributed to money and a solid PR strategy. A comment on the discourse read, “isn’t it a paid thing? Some agency “nominates” you and you have to pay several thousand dollars to get the star. I don’t think any of these actors care that much about some footpath in Hollywood” to which a netizen replied saying, “Thats why its bizarre for deepika and her team to think it is some sort of accomplishment.” A netizen pointed out, “Even Kermit the Frog has a Walk of Fame star”, while another mentioned, “Duh, whole world knows this is paid.” A Reddit user wrote, “Its a PR shit dude, 85000 USD” while another commented saying, “A star doesn’t even mean the same thing it used to 10-15 years ago. No one really cares about it anymore.” One can obviously not clarify how true these claims are, but in hindsight, it is indeed a good day for Deepika as she earns her first of many International accolades. She was also in the news a little while back over her falling out with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga when she demanded to work for an 8-hour shift a day, which the director thought was unprofessional, but several actors, such as Ajay Devgn, have backed her up for it. In terms of work, she is busy with Atlee’s AA22xA6, which will also feature Allu Arjun.