XXX The Return Of Xander Cage: Will Deepika Padukone be a one-film wonder in Hollywood?

Sanjay Leela Bhansali would be a proud filmmaker today, as the two leading ladies of his last film, Bajirao Mastani, have crossed over to Hollywood. If Priyanka Chopra has a Baywatch to boast about, Deepika Padukone will star opposite Vin Diesel in XXX The Return Of Xander Cage.

Bollywood’s two most-talented and glamorous women are all set to take Hollywood by storm in 2017. Priyanka already has a popular American TV show Quantico and a much-talked-about Academy Awards stint to her credit. The talenthouse called Deepika Padukone, on the other hand, still has a lot to prove to the West with her Hollywood debut.

With the stage set, cameras rolling and social media going overboard with sneak-peeks into the film sets, Deepika’s Hollywood debut has already become the talk of the town. Ever since the viral photo of Deepika and Vin broke the internet in December last year, fans have never been able to get enough of the two hot actors. This crossover from Bollywood to Hollywood has left her fans excited and intrigued at the same time. Though the Tamasha actor’s role in XXX franchise has still been kept under wraps, her look in the film has already set the bar of expectation pretty high.

Photos from the sets of film have become a daily dose of entertainment for enthusiastic fans. Every move, every still, every video from the sets is adding a new chapter to Deepika’s much-hyped Hollywood debut.

But the 30-year-old actor isn’t the only Bollywood actor to have caught the fancy of Hollywood. In the past, we saw Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Kapoor making their much-talked-about Hollywood debuts, only to be disappointed by their blink-and-miss roles in The Great Gatsby and Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol respectively.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, a perfect mix of beauty and acting skills, also failed to cast her spell on the West. Despite a considerable role in the 2009 film The Pink Panther, she could never return to Hollywood with meaty characters. Even these superstars from Bollywood turned out to be just one-film wonders in Hollywood.

Desperate to find a foothold in Hollywood, many Bollywood stars agreed to sign up for small and frivolous roles in the West. But their choices have made them fall flat on their faces with their forgettable performances. And Deepika’s choice of role in XXX The Return Of Xander Cage also hints at the same. With a typical action film script and an action hero like Vin Diesel to its credit, the XXX franchise has almost everything sorted. And to add a dash of glamour, director DJ Caruso has roped in four female leads in XXX The Return Of Xander Cage.

With Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev and ‘accidental’ Miss Universe 2016 Ariadna Gutierrez as the three other sidekicks, chances are high that Deepika might turn out to be just another exotic Asian girl in the franchise.

Reports suggest that Deepika will be seen in the role of a huntress and Cage’s ex-lover. And the latest stills from the film, which have Deepika packing a punch, have already upped the curiosity quotient. However, it’s hard to say if Deepika’s nuanced acting will be able to overpower her tough-woman, and ostensibly for-your-eyes-only avatar in the film.

On the other hand, her Bajirao Mastani co-star Priyanka has bagged the role of the villain in Baywatch. So much so, that one meeting with our Desi Girl made the makers of the film change the gender of the character. The Quantico actor, in an interview to PTI had said, “It is so much fun to play a negative character because you have the liberty to go out of your comfort zone and do anything. Victoria is a very mean character.”

It would be interesting to see if Deepika, who has portrayed various characters in Bollywood, will add another dimension to her career with her Hollywood film or join the league of other Bollywood actors with their forgettable cameos. Guess we’ll have to wait till the mystery unfolds… on January 20, 2017.