Happy Birthday Deepika Padukone!

From the enchanting dreamy girl Shanti to the bold and beautiful Leela, she has made every character look effortless. This past year has seen her reach new heights of success with the birthday girl's films created new box-office records. Today, it's a moment of delight to celebrate the birthday of the queen of hearts - Deepika Padukone.

Deepika was born in Denmark to yesteryear badminton star Prakash Padukone and Ujjala Padukone. She has a younger sister Anisha who is a golfer by profession. When Deepika was just one, her family shifted to Bangalore and hence she completed her schooling there. Her life revolved around studies and badminton until she decided to move on and step into the world of glitz and glamour. This wasn't easy as she had to leave her Bachelors of Art midway due to her modelling assignments. Known primarily for appearing in television commercials like Liril, she walked the ramp for the Lakme Fashion Week in early 2005, and then competed in the Kingfisher Fashion Awards to win the Model of the Year award.

Padukone first appeared on the silver screen with a Kannada film, Aishwarya, where she played the title role and the film was a hit. She was later offered her Bollywood debut film, Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om (2007). We must say that the film proved to be an extremely effective way for Miss Padukone to step into Bollywood, as she won the Best Debutant Award in most of the award functions that year. Moreover, her chemistry with Shah Rukh Khan was much appreciated as well. With a few more films releasing in the coming years, this dusky beauty had to maintain patience to build a strong foundation in the Tinsel Town. With 2009's Love Aaj Kal and 2010's Housefull being the only commercially successful films to her name after her debut, 2012's Cocktail saw a turning point in her career; playing Veronica was a complete challenge and she passed the acid test with positive reviews for her performance and won a lot of appreciation from audiences and critics alike.

Year 2013 saw a major breakthrough in Padukone's career as she delivered blockbuster hit after hit with new records. The success series started with the multistarrer Race 2 followed by Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani alongside ex-flame Ranbir Kapoor and Chennai Express with Shah Rukh Khan. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was a musical hit crossing 100 crores, while Chennai Express saw the SRK-Deepika magic once again and it went on to be the first film to cross the B.O. record of 3 Idiots. Padukone's most recent release was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela opposite Ranveer Singh. The movie was another take on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and was well accepted by the audience. The film might have not set new records, but it surely added new feathers to Deepika's acting and dancing skills.

Padukone had been in the limelight due to her link ups and break ups, but her present status shows her to be either single or dating her co-star Ranveer Singh. Since we are still unaware of the real side of these rumors, lets give the birthday girl the much needed privacy in her relationships and enjoy a few songs that she has to her credit!