Happy birthday Deepika Padukone: Rare photos and lesser-known facts about Bajirao Mastani actress

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone turns 30 on 5 January. The actress has several reasons to celebrate her birthday in a grand manner this time. All of her three films — "Piku", "Tamasha" and "Bajirao Mastani" — have done extremely well at the box office.

Of recent, the actress has grabbed attention regarding her Hollywood project. It is reported that Deepika will star in Vin Diesel's "XXX: The Return of Xander Cage" along with international stars like Jet Li and Tony Jaa.

Even in her personal life, there have been reports that Deepika may soon make her relationship with rumoured boyfriend Ranveer Singh official. It suggests both their parents have accepted their relationship and thus the "Bajirao Mastani" couple may tie the knot soon.

Let's take a look at some lesser-known facts about the birthday girl.

• It was singer Himesh Reshammiya who gave the actress her first break on the silver screen. Padukone appeared in his popular music video "Naam Hai Tera", after which director Farah Khan roped her in for a movie.

• The "Piku" actress, who spent her childhood in Bengaluru (then Bangalore), made her debut in successful Kannada film "Aishwarya" in 2006. And, "Om Shanti Om" was not supposed to be her first film. Farah Khan had actually finalised her for "Happy New Year", but later the actress was signed for "Om Shanti Om", too.

• Deepika is the only actress in the Indian film industry whose back-to-back hits collected a total of Rs 500 crore in a single year (2013). "Race 2", "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani", "Chennai Express" and "Goliyon ki Raasleela – Ram-leela" were the films she did that year.

• She was not the first choice for Rohit Shetty's "Chennai Express." Another interesting facts is she is related to the legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt, whose real name was Vasanth Padukone.

• The leggy lass is also a sportsperson like her father. She played badminton at the national level and also played state level baseball.

• Apparently, Deepika was meant to make her debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Saawariya". But Bhansali decided to go with the "Anil Kapoor's Daughter & Rishi Kapoor's Son" formula and signed Sonam Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. Eventually, Deepika's debut film released on the same day as "Saawariya". It is speculated that this created an ongoing rivalry between the two actresses that hasn't gone away as yet.

Check out the slideshow above for rare pictures of the birthday girl.