Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS): Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who plays a spy in the upcoming spy-thriller film 'Pathaan', has been called a bonafide action star by the film's director Siddharth Anand. As one can see from the trailer and the assets that have been released so far, the actress can be seen pulling off the action and sultry bit with equal ease.

Talking about his liking towards femme fatale in films, Siddharth said, "There is nothing more cool or sexy than a woman wielding a powerful weapon on screen. As a film-buff, I have always loved women doing sick action sequences and so, when we got Deepika Padukone in 'Pathaan', we wanted to present her in her most badass self - a gorgeous, gun-toting, femme fatale spy that people have never seen before!"

Recollecting a sequence from the film, the director added, "In one of the action sequences of 'Pathaan', Deepika wields the gatling gun and you have to see the sequence to believe how legit she is as a bonafide action superstar! She steals the show in this scene and I'm sure people will cheer the loudest for her every time she does action in 'Pathaan'."

'Pathaan', which sees Shah Rukh Khan returning to the silver screen after four years, also stars John Abraham. The film is set to release on January 25 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.