New Delhi: Having carved a space for herself in the global entertainment industry, actress Priyanka Chopra opened up about navigating strained relationships in Bollywood at the height of her career.
Reflecting on her decision to venture into the West, Priyanka on Amanda Hirsch’s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, said that she doesn’t like to “stay in s**t.”
When asked what made her explore the American film industry, Priyanka said, “When I was working back in India, I started feeling limited… I wanted to be able to see what else was out there. Besides Mindy Kaling and Aishwarya Rai, there were very few female or male Indian actors in Hollywood. And I was like why don’t we have that representation. It made me think of myself as that girl who was in the 9th grade in America, where nobody looks like me… I didn’t think about it (much) at that time, but as someone who was starting to seek work in Hollywood, I thought where do I stand? How do I begin?… It came from the need to want and see what the possibilities were there.”
During the conversation, Priyanka was also questioned about “tense relationships with some of the stuff going on in India with the movie scene”.
She replied, “Nothing is an easy ride. We all have battles that we have to handle. I am someone who just doesn’t like staying in the s**t because then you get used to the smell. I am a big believer in pivoting. When life gets tough, we are so resilient as human beings, we have the ability to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, take a minute to feel emotional and feel the pain, and then pivot.”
Priyanka admitted that there were not many people before her who had taken that path, but she still decided to try.
She added that she believes in her hard work and knows her job well. “Put me on a set with any filmmaker or co-actor, and I’ll stand toe-to-toe,” she said.
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Priyanka made her Hollywood debut with ‘Baywatch’ in 2017, which also featured Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
The actor was then part of projects such as ‘Matrix: Revolutions’, ‘Citadel’, ‘Love Again’, and ‘Isn’t It Romantic’.
Priyanka was most recently seen in ‘The Bluff’ as Bloody Mary, along with Karl Urban.
The actress is set to make her comeback to Indian cinema with SS Rajamouli’s ‘Varanasi’, which also stars Mahesh Babu and Prithviraj Sukumaran. The film is slated for a ‘Sankranthi’ 2027 release.
