Deepika Padukone walks red carpet, honoured at Time 100 gala

Actress Deepika Padukone is one of the four Indians named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people in 2018. Her co-star from her Hollywood debut XxX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), Vin Diesel, wrote a tribute to her that was earlier published in the magazine.

Yesterday, the actress walked the red carpet at the Lincoln Centre in New York City for a black tie gala honouring those nominated for the exclusive list. Padukone, who was styled by Shaleena Nathani, wore an Anamika Khanna white drape with jewelry designed by Farah Khan.

The actress thanked the assembled honourees and audiences at the ceremony in her speech and spoke candidly about her battle with mental health issues. She recalled how four years ago, she realized there was something wrong and decided to seek help.

"February 15th, 2014, I remember waking up that morning with a strange pittish feeling in my stomach. I had no idea what I was feeling. Life all of a sudden just felt meaningless and there were days when I just wanted to give up. And couple of weeks later, I was diagnosed with clinical depression," she said.

"Four years on I stand here in front of all of you with a slightly better understanding, I think, of life and my feelings and the person that I am, but more importantly, I think all of you will agree with me when I say that we’re going through some pretty challenging times all around the world," she continued.

"I want to raise a toast to every man and every woman and every child around the world that is [sic] faced with some sort of challenge every single day, but you do it with a smile, and I want to say that your power and your strength and your courage encourages me to go on every single day.

"And for the some of us, I think, who do think of giving up once in a while, I want you to know that we’re all in this together, and most importantly that there is hope, because in the words of Stephen Fry, 'We’ll be sunny one day.' Thank you," she said, ending her speech on a positive note.

Padukone's last film, Padmaavat (2017), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is one of the top Hindi films of the year. Besides an untitled production with Vishal Bhardwaj, the actress is yet to sign any new film.