Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are among the biggest superstars in India and have millions of fans around the world. Deepika is carrying forward her father Prakash Padukone’s legacy as he also made India proud as a former badminton player.
Prakash even became the top ranked player in the world in 1980 and also became the became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships in the same year.
However, not many people know that Prakash Padukone had a ‘massive’ crush on Madhuri Dixit and he locked himself in the bathroom when he got to know about the Dil actress’s marriage. This was after his marriage with his second cousin Ujjala Padukone, who worked in Air India and a travel agency before choosing to focus on her married life.
Prakash Padukone on marrying cousin Ujjala Padukone and moving to Denmark where Deepika Padukone was born
In an old interview with The Times of India, Prakash Padukone talked about the last few years in his sporting career when he revealed that Ujjala was his cousin. He said, “I remember I played the national championship in which I lost. Despite being the world’s no 1, I had lost the national championship for the first time after nine years. I was very disappointed but quickly got back and realised that in sports sometimes you lose and sometimes you win so you can’t get excited about either and can neither feel excited after a victory nor sulk after a defeat. I got married to my second cousin Ujjala soon after and we moved to Copenhagen as I found a job there and lived there till 1986 when Deepika was born. I retired in 1989.”
When Deepika Padukone told Madhuri Dixit that Prakash Padukone had ‘massive crush’ on her
In 2016, Deepika Padukone and Madhuri Dixit attended an India Today event together. The Pathaan actress then revealed to the Kalank actress about her father’s massive crush on the veteran star. She said, “My father in fact has had the most massive crush on you. I told him today. I said I am doing this thing, do you want to come”, adding that he shyly refused.
“Maybe I’ve mentioned this to you before but he’s always been doing his own thing, playing badminton, children, wife. He had this whole routine of waking up in the morning and taking the newspapers to the loo, coffee etc. The day you announced or rather the media got to know that you were getting married, he locked himself up in the bathroom. Till today, it’s a running joke in the family. He was so shattered. He came out and you could actually see, he had these bags under his eyes. My mother was like, what were you crying in the loo or what?”, Deepika concluded, and Madhuri couldn’t stop herself from laughing out loud.