New Delhi, July 5 (UNI) Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone who has been working around the clock over the last couple of months, from her brand shoots, to her jury duty at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and the shoots for ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Project K’, she finally took off with her family for a much-needed vacation to the USA.

The Padukones who travelled to the States to meet with their relatives there, also had a very special end to this vacation as Deepika was invited as Chief Guest to the 10th Edition of the Konkani Sammelan in San Jose.

Hosted in the heart of Silicon Valley, the three-day event complete with performances, music shows, seminars, food and the works, celebrates the Konkani cultural heritage and an initiative to keep the culture alive across the world.

Deepika was joined by her family and Ranveer Singh, who enjoyed his first tryst with the full blown event that also saw an opening performance by Shankar Mahadevan.

The superstar who has been ruling Bollywood for over a decade, took this opportunity as a chance to connect with her roots and the larger community and discuss her journey, the culture’s influence, her upbringing and professional journey during her hour-long fireside chat.

What made the occasion even more special was having her family there as well as husband Ranveer who joined her on stage; as the power couple had the San Jose McEnery Convention Center echoing with thunderous applause.

As one of the biggest global Konkani icons in the world, Deepika has been a powerful influence on the community who look upon her with pride.

The superstar later took to her social media to thank the Konkani Association of California. She posted, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. Thank you #KAOCA and to the people of my community for your love, warmth and blessings. I couldn’t be more proud.”

UNI PY PRT