We had a lot of questions after watching Deepika Padukone on her very first American talk show, The Ellen Show. First: Why did Deepika lunge for Ellen’s knees to thank her for having her on the show? Sanskaar reflex? Second: How much cringe can a human take before being thrown into a permanent state of cringe?
Third: Why the knees, Deepika?
We were prepared to look past the knee lunge when the cringe-fest continued with Deepika going on a winding spiel about being a good daughter. We get it. This just means we’ve disappointed our parents on two accounts.
A few nervous chuckles later, Ellen tried to resuscitate the dying interview by getting her to talk about the chemistry she shared with Vin Diesel. That’s when Deepika half-heartedly began concocting a story of a romance between her and her strapping male co-star.
You know how when you’re nervous and you try to not let other people know how nervous you are and you end up talking without really thinking about the words flying out of your mouth? Do you see where we’re going with this…
When it was announced that she was going to appear on the show, people brought their monocles and notebooks out to draw comparisons between her and the last Bollywood actress to appear on the show. We won’t tell you who it is, except that her name rhymes with Gliyanka Glopra.
This other actress was her usual easy-breezy self, unexplained accent well in place. Deepika’s nervous laughter and feeble attempts at comedy served us a healthy dose of second-hand embarrassment.
Watch the video yourself and tell us on a scale of 1-10, how much did you cringe:
Now we wait until we see her competing with Jimmy Fallon in a wing-eating contest.
